Niobe's Violets
by Ashura
Summary: AU. Duo discovers he has an unexpected talent--and the only people who can help him control it are the nice folks at St. Gabriel Institute. But once there, he finds himself wrapped in a mystery that encompasses himself and all his new friends...and span
1. So Foul and Fair a Day

NIOBE'S VIOLETS

by Ashura

DEDICATION: For Dan, for his 1x2 School fic contest

DISCLAIMERS: The usual. I don't own any of the characters, names or places from GW, I've just warped them. 

WARNINGS: Eventually Yaoi (3x4, 1x2), but I have no idea what else. 

AUTHOR'S NOTES: AU, Humour, Drama. Contrary to what you may think, the inspiration for this actually came from watching "Real Genius" for the millionth time, but influences include the X-Men, Harry Potter, Escaflowne, the Young Ones, and the Heralds of Valdemar. The title...well, that should be explained later.

********

Chapter One

********

Duo pelted down the rough, narrow confines of a back alley, conscious of the ever-growing sounds of pursuit and the burning of his own lungs. Ignoring the pain shooting through his side, he leapt the fence that barred the way to the street, all the breath leaving his body as he landed hard on the pavement.

"Get back here, you little brat!" The shouting behind him grew louder, more chaotic, and ever more threatening. Winded, Duo was losing speed--but he kept on, booted feet pounding against the street. 

It was times like this, he noted reflectively, that he wished he had somewhere to call home, where he could take refuge from the street gang whose consistent goal seemed to be to beat him into the pavement. //_In the old days_,// he thought, catching a hurried breath against the brick wall of an aged tenement building, //_I would have taken sanctuary in a church. But somehow I don't' think these guys have much respect for holy ground_.//

His lungs heaving, he started to run again, scanning the street for a safe haven--somewhere populated, at least, where his pursuers might be deterred purely by the number of witnesses. But there just weren't many people around at this time of night, even in the busier segments of town, and Duo was quickly nearing exhaustion.

A hand grabbed his collar and jerked him back. It was almost a relief when his legs refused to bear his weight any longer and he collapsed to the ground. Blackness washed over him, and he struggled against it, feebly clawing his way to consciousness, and /_pushing_/ with all his will.

Around him, people were screaming--

"What the hell? He's AAAAAAUUGH!!"

"Somebody grab his hands!"

"Shit! Oops--run!"

Heat surged once through him, then his sore and battered body gave way. Silence fell thick around him, and darkness consumed him.

*********

He blinked slowly into consciousness, vision greeted by a blur of sterile white walls, and cold fluorescent lighting that glared off the metallic surface of mirrors and surgical implements. A stiff, starched percale sheet was draped over his body up to his chest, which led to the further observation that his clothes were missing. The thick air reeked of medicine and disinfectant.

"You're awake. How are you feeling?" A calm, soothing soprano coalesced in the light and became a white-clad woman, short brown hair framing a face lit by pale blue eyes.

Duo blinked rapidly against the dizziness of motion, watching the world take form around him. "Where am I?"

"St. Frances hospital," the woman answered, seating herself on a stool next to his bed. "I'm Dr. Winner. Can I ask what your name is?"

"Duo. Duo Maxwell." He rubbed his head, taking comfort in the thick length of braid hanging matted and damp down his back. "What am I doing in the hospital?"

Dr. Winner fixed him with a curious gaze. "Duo, what do you remember?"

He shook his head, trying vainly to clear the cobwebs from it. "Running," he answered hesitantly. "Being pulled down to the ground...."

"Did you do anything to the people who caught you?" the doctor asked gently, but Duo just stared at her blankly.

"I heard yelling...then I guess I passed out."

Dr. Winner sighed, absently twirling a pen in nervous fingers. "According to the witnesses, Duo, you glowed green and shot beams of light out of your hands at the person who grabbed you--who is now dead. The police arrived, and when they tried to restrain you, you did the same to them. Fortunately, they're made of stronger stuff, or you'd be in a lot more trouble now."

Duo just stared at the young doctor in disbelief. "Glowed /green/?" he repeated incredulously.

She nodded. "So say at least twelve separate witnesses, I'm afraid. They wanted to tie you down, but I convinced them that if whatever power it was manifested by your feeling threatened and helpless, then keeping you in such a state was in nobody's best interest."

Duo rolled over on the narrow hospital bed, burying his face in the limp pillow. "So what happens to me now?"

"Well technically, you're still under arrest," Dr. Winner answered, turning him gently back toward her. "You did kill someone, after all. On the other hand, he's not a person anyone's really going to miss, and the police department here really isn't equipped to handle this kind of thing. They'd like nothing better than to sweep it under the rug and pretend it never happened."

Hope rose in Duo's violet eyes at last. "So...?"

"Officially, you're going to reform school," she explained. "You get off the hook and off the streets, and the good officers here get to feel they've done something toward the rehabilitation of youth."

"And unofficially..?" Duo wondered.

"Unofficially, you're still going to school. It's called the St. Gabriel Institute. It's a place for students with...unusual abilities."

"Newtypes." Duo winced as the word left his lips. "I'm not one of those."

Dr. Winner shook her head, almost sadly. "Not necessarily newtypes. Those are common enough, even if current sentiment has made them all pretend to be otherwise. No, the students at this school are /really/ special."

Duo sighed. "All right, I'll go. Not that I have a feeling I actually get a choice in the matter."

The doctor shrugged. "You don't. Someone from St. Gabriel's will be here to collect you soon."

"Soon" turned into "instantly," though, as a light knock sounded on the door. A tall woman, dressed in a simple black suit, with vivid blue eyes and short-cropped dark hair, slipped inside and gave Dr. Winner a warm smile. 

"Is this the one, Iria?" she asked, motioning toward Duo.

Dr. Winner nodded. "This is Duo Maxwell. Duo, Lucrezia Noin, from the St. Gabriel Institute." She slid off the stool, adding, "I've explained the basics to him, but I left fielding the hard questions for you."

Noin merely nodded. "No time like the present, then. I'll wait outside if you want to get ready, Duo..."

Duo, after a quick scan of the room to reveal that the desired articles were in fact nowhere to be found, just asked, "Can I have my clothes back?"

Iria's fingers flew to her mouth. "Damn, I forgot. There wasn't much left of them, Duo--whatever you did, you shredded them good. Let me go see what I can find." She disappeared out the door, leaving Noin and Duo alone in the room.

Duo looked up at her, questioning. "Did I really do what they say I did?"

Noin shrugged. "It looks like it, kiddo. They don't make these things up--they try to pretend they didn't see it, if they can. The fact that twelve people say you did...well, that says something."

"I'm sorry," said Duo.

"Hey, don't be." Noin perched on the stool recently vacated by Dr. Winner, reaching over to squeeze his hand. "Well--be sorry you accidentally killed somebody, sure, but that's exactly what it was. An accident. You were defending yourself."

"I'm not in trouble then." The realisation came as a profound relief.

"No, you're not." Noin might have said more, but the door opened again at that moment, and Iria tossed a pair of pale blue scrubs onto the bed. 

"Sorry, that's all I could find. It'll get you out of here, anyway, and they did salvage your boots." She turned back to the door, leading Noin with her. "We'll give you a minute to get dressed. Then--listen, Lu, take him out and get him set up, okay? Whatever he's going to need to be comfortable. I'll take care of it."

Noin nodded. "Thanks, Iria." The two women ducked outside, and as the door swung shut behind them, Duo was already crawling out of the bed.

He discovered, while pulling on the surgical scrubs over his malnourished, too-thin body, that aside from the usual protrusions of ribs that characterised a starving teenager, there wasn't a mark on him.

//_Then again_,// he thought dryly, //_that's hardly the strangest thing that's happened to me this morning._// He laced up battered combat boots and decided it was probably best the room had no mirror. His vanity didn't need the beating it would take.

"Ready?" Noin asked when he finally joined them in the hallway, and he nodded. "We're going to take a detour or two on the way to get you some things, then I'll get you set up at St. Gabe's."

Duo shrugged. "Lead the way." 

********

The next several hours proved to be among the most enjoyable of Duo's short, if hard, life. One thing the street-rat had never had the opportunity to do, and decided he could quickly learn to get used to, was to go shopping and actually be able to buy what he looked at. For once, salespeople were not following him around their stores trying to catch him shoplifting--not that they ever /did/ catch him, he was too well-practiced for that, and he made a habit of taking only what he really needed. Cocky thieves were the ones to get caught.

But this was an entirely new experience. His original guilty, hesitant insistence that he didn't actually /need/ anything was met with a laugh from Noin, and a determined shake of her head.

"Sorry, Duo," she told him. "Iria Winner said to get you whatever you need to be comfortable, which in her terms does not mean the bare minimum. She'd have my head if I took you back like this. And since she's not only my friend, but in charge of the disbursement of funds from a corporation whose annual grants pretty much keep our school running, she outranks you. We're going shopping."

After the initial heady rush of consumerism, Duo had decided not to complain. It was like stepping into a new life. By the time they returned to the car, he had new clothes--not ones that had been worn by six other people and finally cast away at a homeless shelter. He had clean sheets, and warm blankets, and a pillow that was as tall as he was. Not to mention decent shampoo and a brush that wouldn't pull his hair out. Then--after hearing his stomach growl and discovering he hadn't eaten in what she termed "the recordable past"--Noin treated him to a bagful of cheeseburgers and a chocolate milkshake.

And of course, there was riding in Noin's car. It was a new-model Mustang, shiny, black, and fast enough to make the other cars on the road look like they were moving backwards.

Duo was in heaven.

Noin's cellphone rang as he was staring out the window, watching the plains stretch out lonely and empty on either side around them. St. Gabriel's was apparently in the middle of nowhere, but that made sense, he supposed, given the sort of school it was. She answered the call with her name, and despite telling himself he wouldn't eavesdrop, Duo found himself listening anyway.

"Yes, I've got him, and we're on our way....We had to make a stop or two first, Treize, the boy didn't even have any clothes." Duo felt he should have been embarrassed at that, but his grasp on reality had slipped so far through his fingers by now that he didn't actually care. "Well, based on the data Iria gave me, I'm assigning him to L2. Right. So can you drag Hilde Schbeiker out of whatever else it is she's doing so she can show him around? ETA about fifteen minutes. Thanks." The phone clicked off, and she shot Duo a smile. "Almost there."

"Miss Noin..." Duo fiddled nervously with the end of his braid. "What kind of talents do the other students have? Are they all like mine?"

She shook her head. "No--actually, if your gift is what I expect it is, you'll be the only one. Everyone's talent is different, you'll meet them all when you get there."

He grinned up at her slyly. "What's yours?"

"I'm a clairvoyant," she answered without hesitation, confirming Duo's suspicion that the faculty at this school were of the same peculiarity as the students. "I can see things that are happening far away." She shot him a warm smile, and added, "I don't expect you'll have any problems with the others, Duo. There are only ten students in the school. We're a tight group. We take care of our own."

"Only ten?" he repeated. He'd been envisioning something much larger--an entire underground community of savants, perhaps, studying together in candlelit hallways and ancient brick buildings. And he told Noin so.

"Well you're right about the bricks," she answered with a laugh, "but I'm sorry to disappoint you about the candles. We /are/ technologically equipped, you know. Running water, electricity, and our own intranet. We're secluded, it doesn't mean we're completely out of touch!"

A wrought-iron gate, that somehow fit Duo's previous vision just perfectly, loomed from the mist before them. The building, sure enough, was aged, ivy-entangled brick, with turrets and steeples and gardens all enclosed by a tall fence. A bronze sign on the outer wall informed them that they were entering St. Gabriel's, and a few moments later Noin pulled the Mustang to a halt on the lawn.

"Is this him? Is this him?" a cheerful, feminine voice called as Duo was climbing out of the car. A slender form darted from the shadows of the doorway--petite, pale, blue-eyed, her dark hair cut in the same style as Noin's but topped by a cranberry-hued beret. She was wearing faded blue jeans and a blue button-down shirt covered with paint stains, and at Noin's nod of confirmation, she favoured Duo with a brilliant smile. "Great! I'm Hilde. Let me help you carry your stuff." Without waiting for an answer, she hoisted a pile of Duo's new blankets over her shoulder. "I'll get you set up in your room, Treize already gave me the key. Oops--is that okay Miss Noin? Or do you still need him for anything?"

Noin laughed, waving them on. "Nope, he's all yours. Just come find me when you're done, so I know he's settled in, all right? Duo, Hilde should be able to take perfectly good care of you, but come find me if you need me for anything. If all else fails, just pick a place to stand and yell for me. It works for everybody else."

The blur that was Hilde was already halfway to the door, and Duo shouldered his bags and hurried to join her. "I should tell you," she explained, leading him through a labyrinth of hallways, "that you've been assigned to my section--L-2. We're the only ones in it. What this means is that you're going to get really sick of me, really fast, because not only are you rooming nextdoor, but unless they reassign you somewhere else after they test you, we're going to have exactly the same schedule."

"Oh." Duo stumbled up the stairs after her, just trying to memorise where it was he was going. "What do the sections mean?"

"They're based on your talent," the girl explained blithely. "The intensity of it, at least. There are six sections. L-0 is things they haven't figured out all the way yet, or can't classify. Then for L-1 through L-5, it goes up depending on the intensity of your gift. Example. L-1 is for purely physical mutations, like Heero, who has super-strength. Then you and I are L-2, so you can figure out about how strong that is. The Wonder Twins are L-3, Quatre's an L-4, and Wufei is L-5."

"Oh," said Duo again, waiting for all this information to settle itself in his head.

"And here we are!" Hilde exclaimed, before he could think of any more questions. She unlocked a door in the side of the passageway and nudged it open. "Your room. Welcome home."

Duo felt a ridiculous grin spreading over his face. Welcome home indeed! The room was small, but not cramped. A bed lined the opposite wall, and a desk faced the door just to the left of him. A bookshelf and a closet took care of what wall space remained, and a door in one corner led to his own private bathroom, but the best part by far was the window crowning the bed--fully four feet square, bordered by homey calico curtains and overlooking the garden outside. 

"Don't move the furniture around," Hilde was telling him, while she unpacked his sheets and began making the bed. "It's all set up this way because of the energy flow, so that you get the most out of whatever you're doing. The best sleep, the most productive worktime, whatever." Efficiently, she spread the last blanket out on the bed and tossed herself onto it. "Nice pillow. So hurry up and unpack, and I'll give you a tour. We've got one more class before dinner--at least I assume they want you to just jump in--you may as well, and it'll be the fastest way to meet Mr. Treize anyway."

"Tell you what," suggested Duo, starting to feel a bit overwhelmed, "I'll just hold on tight, and you can lead me around and tell me what to do." 

Hilde laughed. "Aw, I know, it's all new, isn't it? Don't worry. You'll get used to it. And there's nobody here you have to worry about, anyway. Everybody's--well, if not nice, at least not dangerous. And you can always ask any of the teachers for help with /anything/. They're great. Are you done yet?"

Duo stopped folding his clothes and stared at her. "Tell me, Hilde--is your special talent that you don't have to stop talking to breathe?"

Her eyes narrowed, sparkling with mischief, and before Duo realised what was happening, she'd grabbed him by the hair and was dragging him outside. "That's it, you're done. We're going to class, you can finish this later. What the hell do you need to fold everything for anyway?"

And Duo, true to his own prediction, just trailed along in her wake.

************


	2. You Are That Knavish Sprite

*********

Chapter Two  
*********

"This is Philosophy," Hilde explained, dragging Duo through the classroom door and practically stuffing him into a desk. "Well-that's what it's called, anyway. It's basically Mr. Treize explaining why we're the way we are, and how everything works...sort of a unified field theory of metaphysics, I guess. We've got it with L-0 and L-3, so you'll get to meet most of the rest of the kids right now."

"Hey, Hilde...not bad, where'd you find him?" Long strands of blonde hair brushed Duo's shoulder, before the person belonging to said hair poked her face between him and Hilde, and tossed an arm around each of their shoulders.

"Miss Noin gave him to me," Hilde answered pertly. "He's brand new today. This hour, even. His name's Duo. Duo, this is Dorothy."

"Nice to meet you," said Duo, craning his neck to get a look at her.

"A pleasure," the girl said smoothly, removing her arm from Duo's shoulder to shake his hand. "We're glad to have you, I'm sure. Be careful Hilde doesn't scare you out of the place entirely. She tries to with everybody else."

Hilde looked indignant. "I wouldn't! Not to Duo, anyway. He's my new section buddy, he's gonna help me torture the rest of you!"

Dorothy snorted. "Your section? I pity him, then." She left then, to greet another pair of students entering the room. "Hey, Wonder Twins."

"Drop dead, Dorothy," both the new arrivals said at once, in precisely the same good-natured tone. The boy was tall and wiry, in tight jeans and a loose dress shirt left half-unbuttoned, with a fall of dark brown hair covering one green eye. The girl only reached his shoulder, but was dressed almost the same, loose auburn curls springing wildly around her face. In perfect sync, the pair settled themselves in the desks behind Dorothy's. 

Hilde shuddered, nudging Duo playfully. "Creepy, isn't it?"

Duo was still watching the twins, who appeared to be having a conversation without actually speaking or looking at one another. "Do they do it on purpose?"

"Sure they do," she answered sourly. "They're showoffs."

"Say Hilde..." Duo wondered. "What's your talent, anyway?"

If he'd known her better, perhaps he would have picked up on the mischievous light in her blue eyes--but he didn't, so he took it at face value when she just tossed off a nonchalant wave. "Mine? Oh, it's not important. Here, you want to see a neat trick?"

A neat trick? He nodded dumbly. "Sure."

"Cool!" Hilde fumbled in her pockets for a moment, but both hands came up empty. "Cathy!" she called across the room. "Knife!"

The redheaded twin did not so much as turn to acknowledge that Hilde had spoken, but a decourated throwing-knife leapt from her satchel and flew across the room to land on her desk.

"Thanks!" Hilde called gleefully, grabbing the weapon and holding it up for Duo to inspect. "See? Here's the trick--watch, it's cool!"

And with that, she sliced off her finger.

"What the FUCK??" Duo's jaw dropped and his voice rose. "I thought you said you were showing me a trick!"

"I am," said Hilde patiently.

"But--but--" Duo gaped. No, he was not imagining it. Hilde's finger was lying on his desk, bleeding just a little, completely severed from her hand. "You just--that's--"

"Now watch," Hilde demanded, thrusting her bleeding hand into his face. "This is the really cool part."

And as Duo watched, the wound at her knuckle healed--no, not /healed/, merely, for that would imply the flesh only closed over itself. Rather, it /grew/, slowly but visibly, until a whole, complete finger had taken the place of the one Duo was trying very hard not to look at again.

"See?" crowed Hilde triumphantly. "I fooled you! That's my talent--I regenerate. And I have a pain tolerance like you wouldn't believe."

"I...I guess so..." Duo swallowed, trying to decide if he was impressed or going to be sick. "Could you get your finger off my desk now?"

"Sissy," she pouted, but scooped up the appendage anyway.

"Miss Schbeiker," a new, unfamiliar voice said calmly from the front of the room, "amusing as your pranks are, I'll thank you not to leave superfluous body parts lying about my classroom?"

Hilde giggled. "Sorry, Mr. Treize. I just wanted to show Duo before somebody spoiled the surprise."

"I'm sure he's a better man for the experience," Treize replied dryly. He was tall, and far younger, somehow, than Duo had anticipated. He had short ginger hair and sparkling blue eyes, and was leaning casually against the doorframe in khakis and a blue sweater. "Now is it too much to ask if we could get started?"

"No, sir," said Hilde, tucking the finger into a pocket of her bag. Dorothy turned around to watch her, and mouthed 'freak' before winking, and turning her attention back to the front.

"Right." Treize scanned the room, his gaze finally settling on Dorothy. "Miss Catalonia...where's the rest of your section today?"

Dorothy shrugged. "Not here. It's not like she lets me keep track of her. She's probably downstairs throwing paint at the wall again."

Treize arched a delicate eyebrow, but nodded. "I'll ask Lady Une to check on her," he said, and turned his attention finally to Duo. "Mr. Maxwell."

It was, Duo realised, the first time in his life he'd been addressed that way. This was turning out to be quite an eventful day. "Yes, sir?"

Treize smiled warmly, and Duo felt tension draining from his body. "It's good to have you here. I'm Treize Khushrenada. I'm sorry I couldn't meet you when you first arrived--I'd like you to find the time to come by my office in the next day or so, so we can get acquainted."

Duo nodded. "Yes, sir. I will."

"Good. Miss Schbeiker, make sure he does." Hilde nodded pertly, and Treize began his lecture. It was all completely foreign material to Duo, who had dropped out of high school about the time the shelter he'd been staying at had burnt to the ground and left him without a permanent address. But he found it all utterly fascinating. Treize was an animated speaker, with an obvious love for and understanding of his subject matter, and he wove myth together with scientific fact in a way that kept Duo captivated. He talked about White Noise, the energy of the universe, and electromagnetics transferred into Places of Power, about ley lines and chi flow and how in the end it all came down to the power of a person's soul.

It was all over too soon for Duo. "That's it for today," Treize said finally, and Hilde let out a sigh of relief. "Get yourselves to dinner. Enjoy your evening. Mr. Maxwell--remember, whenever you have a moment." He strode out the door, and Hilde bounced to her feet, hauling Duo up with her. 

"Whew! I'm glad that's over! Not that I don't like listening to him, I'm just /starving/! Come on, we'll get something to eat and then I'll introduce you the rest of the school."

"You might start with us," a soft, almost sultry tenor suggested from behind her. Hilde spun--and so did Duo, just by being in close range--to see the twins standing side by side, perfectly synchronised smiles quirking each of their lips.

"Stop doing that," Hilde grumbled. "You're gonna freak him out. Duo, this is Trowa and Catherine, otherwise known as the Wonder Twins. You don't have to guess why. They're section L-3."

"Nice to meet you," said Catherine, and Trowa extended a hand. 

"Um...nice to meet you too," said Duo, shaking it.

"I'll walk down to dinner with you," said Catherine, swinging her bag over her shoulder. "Trowa's going to meet up with Quatre first...Dorothy, you coming?"

"Damnit, you caught me," the blonde girl responded, tossing her hair. "Here I was hoping you'd be so busy with the new kid I could run ahead and get some food before Hilde gets there and hogs it all."

"I'm a growing girl," said Hilde, unapologetic.

"Ha! The only thing you grow is new body parts!"

"Children, children..." Catherine rolled her eyes and ushered them all out of the room. "If you do not /move/, and I mean now, so I can get fed, I'll just have to eat both of you." She winked at Duo over the other girls' shoulders, and he grinned back. //Funny,// he thought, //I should be having a lot more trouble accepting all this than I am. Then again, I suspended disbelief so far by this point I probably can't even reach it anymore. Wonder what the rest of them are like.//

"Relena! Heero!" Hilde skipped suddenly ahead, grabbing Duo's hair just in time to drag him with her. "Look look look!"

Two more students, making their way toward the enticing smells that indicated a kitchen nearby, turned at the perky girl's outburst. 

"What?" the girl asked. She was shorter than Duo, with honey-brown hair hanging loose around her shoulders and pale blue eyes--Duo was beginning to wonder if everyone in this school besides himself and the twins had blue eyes--and was dressed less casually than any of the others, in a short plaid skirt and brown sweater and knee socks. "Oh! Hi! Who're you?"

"Duo Maxwell," he spoke up quickly, before Hilde could answer for him. "I'm new here."

"Well of course you are, or we would've seen you before. There aren't that many of us." She juggled a stack of books in her arms, til she could finally hold out a hand to him. "I'm Relena Darlien. This is Heero Yuy." She made a face at the boy walking with her, who glared at the floor and pretended not to notice.

A wild mop of dark brown hair framed an angular, almost delicate face, dominated by the bluest dark blue eyes Duo had ever seen. //_Heero. Hilde mentioned him--super strength, or something, right?_// he thought--but this boy didn't /look/ like he had exceptional strength. His body, while wiry and athletic, still carried the same aura of fragility as his fine-boned face. His long-sleeved black t-shirt and black jeans were loose but not baggy, and he carried only a battered, wrinkled green notebook doodled all over in black ballpoint pen. "Hi," he said, when Relena elbowed him in the side.

"Hi," said Duo. "Nice to meet you."

"All right, all right, he's met everybody!" Catherine said in exasperation. "Let's go /eat/!" And she was pushing them along again, with Relena falling into step beside Dorothy and Heero taking up the rear, still staring at the floor.

"Say, Duo--what do you eat?" Hilde asked, as the group took their places around a long wooden table.

He made no attempt to hide his confusion. "Anything that I can stuff in my mouth before it escapes?"

She giggled. "Good! I just wondered--well, Heero and Quatre and Relena are all vegetarians, for example. Though after sitting through Zechs' plant classes, I don't see how they think eating /those/ is better than eating meat! Sylvia...well, she barely eats anything at all, but she's weird. You'll meet her later, she's in Dorothy's section but some days she won't leave her room. Oh! Speaking of food, here it is! And here come Trowa and Quatre!"

Duo wasn't sure where to look first, trying to watch Hilde's flailing fingers point to everything that might possibly be of some interest to him. He /did/ see Trowa, hand-in-hand with a small, pale, blonde boy, making their way toward the table.

"Hey, Hilde--they're holding hands," he hissed, hoping nobody else could hear him. 

She grinned at him. "Sure they are. They're lovers." The way she said it was so nonchalant that she could have just as easily been talking about the weather, or the bowls of food that a stocky Polynesian woman was setting down on their table. Then again, this was a girl who hacked off body parts for entertainment.

"Um...okay," said Duo, reaching for a bowl of mashed potatoes that was easily twice the size of his head and spooning a generous helping onto his plate.

"Ooh, that looks good!" Scarcely had he deposited the spoon back into the bowl than Hilde had snatched it out of his hands. "Cathy, pass the gravy, would you?" The redhead didn't even look up from her own meal, but the gravy boat did sail through the air and land in front of Hilde. "I just like it when she does that," the dark-haired girl whispered conspiratorially to Duo. "Want some?"

"Um, sure..." Duo wondered how many times he was doomed to repeat that phrase, and variations of it, in the course of his existence at St. Gabriel's. But all those thoughts were quickly dispelled by the reality of having a full plate of food to eat right in front of his face--two meals in one day was a luxury he hadn't been able to afford in a long time.

"SCHBEIKER!!" A loud yell cut through even Catherine's concentration, and the entire table looked up. A slim, wiry Chinese boy, his shoulder-length hair pulled back in a short tail, in loose black warm-up pants and a white t-shirt, slammed his hands down on the edge of the table to glare at Hilde.

She smiled innocently. "You found my surprise! Did you like it?"

The boy's eyes narrowed to angry slits. "No."

Hilde shrugged, unapologetic as ever. "That's too bad. Have you met the new kid yet? This is Duo. Duo, Wufei Chang. L-5."

"Nice to meet you," mumbled Duo with his mouthful.

"You've got gravy on your chin," said Wufei, shooting another glare at Hilde before he stalked away to sit, very pointedly, at the other end of the table next to Heero. Duo wiped his chin hastily.

"Mind if we sit here?" asked a soft, mellow voice behind Duo's elbow. Indescribably melodic, hovering somewhere between alto and tenor, the very timbre of it was like a tender caress along his skin. 

"Course not, go 'head," Hilde answered, waving to the two empty spots. Trowa took one, and the pale blonde boy Duo assumed was Quatre--as well as the one who had spoken--folded himself into the other as Hilde completed introductions between mouthfuls. "Duo, you met Trowa. And this is Quatre. Quatre, Duo."

"I know who he is," Quatre answered, catching a bowl out of the air that Catherine sent flying his way. "My sister's sponsoring him. Nice to meet you, Duo."

"Really?" Hilde licked a bit of gravy off her fingers. "So you two're kind of like brothers already. Neat!"

Quatre shrugged delicately. His entire being was delicate, Duo thought--even more imbued with fragility than Heero. He looked as though his bones might be hollow, like a bird's, or like he might float away at the first sign of a strong wind. His skin was pale, his hair barely blonde, and his eyes a watery blue, all of which gave him the appearance of being vaguely surreal. And it didn't help that he was wearing white, which only made him more washed out and strange.

"Have you decided what you're doing for the talent show?" Trowa asked Hilde, reaching across her plate for a basket of rolls.

She shook her head, affecting a pout. "I wanted to be a target for Cathy, but she says she'll only work with you. Maybe I won't do anything, I'll just keep Duo company instead?"

"Talent show?" Duo asked hesitantly.

Quatre smiled, answering smoothly before Hilde could get the words out. "It's just something to keep us occupied," he explained. "It's not like we can have our own sports teams or other things that go compete with other schools--most of them don't know we exist, and if they did they wouldn't want to play with us. So we plan our own events, just for ourselves. Miss Noin set up a talent show for tomorrow night. All of us are going to do something...well, almost all."

"Can you imagine if we /did/ have interscholastic teams?" Hilde added, giggling. "Can you see a swimming match, for instance? Relena has gills," she explained offhandedly to Duo, "and webbing between her toes. A regular waterbaby. It wouldn't even be a competition. Or a basketball team with Cathy and Trowa?" She shook her head. "Anyway I don't have any talents people aren't sick of seeing. And Heero's not doing anything, and I'll bet you real money Sylvia doesn't even show up."

Quatre shrugged again. "She will if I ask her to." A pause, and then he changed the subject yet again, his limpid eyes flickering to Duo. "So. How're you settling in?"

Duo wiped the last of the gravy off his plate with a roll. "Honestly? This is all really weird. I'm just waiting to wake up."

Quatre smiled. "It does take getting used to, doesn't it? Don't worry, Duo. We'll all take care of you."

It was impossible not to believe anything he said in that unearthly, melodic voice, and Duo nodded. "Thanks."

Conversation floated around him for a while, and every now and again someone asked him a question that he did his best to answer, while the others filled him in on how things at St. Gabriel's worked, and promised him they'd all make sure his settling-in went as smoothly as possible. A certain amount of good-natured sympathy was expressed at his having to spend so much time with Hilde, all of which the girl fended off with either witty barbs or threats upon their physical or mental well-being.

"So what d'you want to do now?" she asked as the plates were finally cleared and the students began to disperse.

"Take a shower," Duo answered immediately, fiddling with the end of his greasy braid. "And settle into my room a bit...I don't know, think for a while? Not move?"

Hilde giggled. "That's fair then. I'll walk you back to your room...I've got some letters to write and some studying to do, so I'll be right nextdoor if you need anything," she offered, already leading him back through the labyrinthine corridors.

"There is one thing I wondered." Duo had been puzzling over one aspect of his fellow students for quite some time, but as the information was never volunteered, he wondered if it was impolite to ask. "I'm sure I'll figure out what everybody's talents are in time, but--well, the classification thing."

Hilde nodded, waiting. "What about it?"

"Well--you and I are L2, and you chop off body parts...I've seen what Cathy does...and it goes up from there? If we're the little talents, what the hell do Quatre and Wufei do?"

Hilde burst out laughing, grabbing his arm and dragging him insistently up the stairs. "I can't just tell you!" she explained, giggling. "They'd kill me! We /never/ get new people here, which means we never get a chance to show off. Remember what I did to show you mine? They all want the same chance...I can't spoil it for them!" She frowned slightly, pausing in the stairwell. "Well...except L-0, because Dorothy doesn't care and you need to be warned about Sylvia."

"Warned?" Duo repeated, suspicious.

She nodded. "Dorothy's a technohead--literally. She remembers everything, figures equations faster than any computer in existence, can play with electricity, and can interface with a computer just by thinking hard. If your stereo breaks or something, she's the one to talk to. Sylvia..." Her eyes darkened, her smile vanishing. "She sees the future."

Duo blinked. "That doesn't sound so bad."

Hilde shook her head. "It isn't, if you're like--oh, Miss Noin, who only sees it when she scries for it. Sylvia has...visions. They hit her at random times, and she doesn't have any control over them. And she says there are spirits talking to her, who tell her to paint these really bizarre pictures, and...well, you'll understand when you meet her. Just be aware, she's stranger than the rest of us all put together."

"Oh," said Duo, filing this away among the rest of the things he would eventually come to accept. He was silent, lost in thought, until Hilde gave him a gentle shove toward the door of his room. "There ya go. Yell if you need anything."

"I will." Duo barred himself in the cubicle, reveling in a room that was really, truly /his/. He took a shower so hot it scalded him, and washed his hair three times before the water finally threatened to run cold. He pulled on the new, clean sweats he and Noin had bought earlier, and tossed himself onto his new, clean bed to stare out the window at the moonlight bathing the garden below. And finally, while he contemplated the changes the day had wrought, his exhausted body surrendered to sleep.


	3. Such Stuff as Dreams are Made On

**********

Chapter Three

**********

Duo awoke to someone pounding on his bedroom door. Not that he realised immediately that it /was/ his door, or even where he was or whose bed he was in. //_Amasing. I was sure I'd wake up back in the alley_,// was his first conscious thought, directly followed by a sincere appreciation for the goosedown comforter insulating him from the rest of the world.

"DUO! Get moving already, we're late!" Hilde gave up pounding on the door and let herself in. "Come on, I mean it! We've got Lady Une first thing in the morning and believe me, you do /not/ want to be late to this class!" By the time Duo had crawled reluctantly out from under the blankets, she was already throwing a sweatshirt and jeans at him. "Get dressed! Hurry! Do you know you slept through breakfast? We let you 'cause we figured you must be exhausted--oh, and I saved you some toast, here. Eat fast." 

Duo scrambled.

No sooner had he laced up his boots--the only thing around him he'd owned longer than a day, he noted, with the same suspension of disbelief that was rapidly becoming reflex--than Hilde had grabbed his hand and was dragging him away again.

"Wait--Hilde--I need to braid my hair--" he stammered, but she didn't even slow down.

"Later! Leave it! I told you, we can't be late!" Pulling him behind her, she skidded around a corner, almost catapulting him into a wall. Duo decided to give up, and concentrate on not being damaged in the course of her headlong flight.

Hilde shot out one hand to catch a doorframe as she pelted past, using it to pull herself and Duo to an almost-stop and spin them into the classroom it led to. She brought herself up sharply, and Duo bumped into her before he could stop. 

"We made it," she whispered to him, relieved. "Grab a desk." 

Relena and Heero were already seated, and the honey-haired girl smiled warmly at Duo as Hilde stuffed him into a seat. "All rested up?"

Duo nodded, still trying to catch his breath. "Didn't even have time to brush my hair," he grumbled, and Relena chuckled.

"Don't worry, you look fine. And nobody'd really care if you showed up in your pajamas anyway. Well--assuming you sleep in pajamas," she added with a frankly appraising gaze that sent the blood rushing to Duo's cheeks and sent his head spinning for another place to look.

Which is exactly how he noticed Heero was staring at him. The intense blue eyes were fixed unblinking in his direction, and he wilted further under their weight. Fortunately, the classroom door swung shut in time to distract them all.

"Crap," he heard Hilde whisper under her breath. "Bad day." On his other side, Relena straightened self-consciously. 

The woman who had just entered was tall, although her bearing probably gave her the illusion of more inches than she actually had, standing stiff in a dark tailored suit. Her brown hair was braided into a neat chignon at the nape of her neck, her hazel eyes framed by dark wire glasses. "Good morning, "she said crisply, calmly.

"Good morning," Hilde and Relena chorused back. Heero was silent and Duo was confused. 

The woman's sharp gaze swung abruptly to Duo, fixing him with a cold glare. "Duo Maxwell?"

Duo swallowed. "Y--yes, ma'am."

She smiled, but it did little or nothing to put him at ease. "Welcome to St. Gabriel's. I am Lady Une. Mr. Treize tells me this will be only the second day after even becoming aware you had a talent. Is this true?"

He nodded vigorously. "Yes ma'am."

"Hm. I'm sure it will take some getting used to. Nevertheless I expect you to do your best. Is this clear?"

Duo nodded and repeated himself one more time. The next hour and a half was among the longest he remembered ever living through. It wasn't that Lady Une wasn't as good a speaker as Treize--she was. And she spoke with the same expertise and energy for her subject, though most of what she was utterly incomprehensible to him. And Duo was certain he could have paid more attention had he not been scared to death of her.

And to top it all off, whenever he looked up from the notes he was scribbling in rapid, barely-legible hand across his paper, Heero Yuy was staring at him.

***********

"I thought that would never end!" Hilde let all her breath out at once, deflating like a leaky balloon into her chair. "Been a while since she did that--maybe it's stress because you're here."

"Did what?" Duo wondered.

"Wore glasses," interrupted Relena, gathering up her notebooks. "She's got split personalities, Duo. If she's not wearing her glasses, she's Nice Une, and she's very sweet and you can talk to her about anything. If she /is/ wearing her glasses, best just yes-ma'am and no-ma'am and get out of her way as soon as possible."

"Oh." Into Duo's brain the information went, along with every other unbelievable tidbit he'd picked up in the past twenty-four hours. By this point nothing seemed strange. 

"Don't worry about it, you survived admirably." Relena started toward the door, motioning them after her with her chin. "We'll walk down to the garden with you, we all have Zechs' class together."

"What's this one?" Duo asked, shouldering his bag to follow her. "Because I don't mind telling you I'm totally lost. I have no idea what anything was that Lady Une was talking about."

"Manifestation of will," said Heero abruptly. "Making something happen with the power of your mind alone."

"Well yeah, I got /that/," Duo conceded. "But I still don't get /how/!"

Heero looked at him oddly. "That's what the class is for," he said simply, holding open the door for the rest of them to leave the room.

Hilde and Relena did their best to explain to Duo everything he'd been missing out on in Lady Une's class since the beginning of time, til he was afraid his head was going to explode. Somewhere on the trek to the garden, they were joined by Quatre, Trowa and Catherine, who fell into step behind them. 

They stopped at a part of the garden where a collection of marble benches surrounded a pound in the centre of a copse of trees. Flashes of orange beneath the surface of the water proved to be a small population of carp, who gathered at the edge of the pond as Relena knelt next to it to dabble her fingers in the water and say hello.

"Have a seat," said Hilde, perching on the edge of one of the benches. Catherine joined her, and the girls scooted over to make room for Duo as Trowa and Quatre draped themselves over another one. Heero remained standing, his back to the hedgerow, scuffing at the dirt with his foot.

"Hello everyone." Once again, it was the voice which alerted Duo to an unfamiliar presence--but this time, even when he looked up, he saw no-one. 

"Now that's not fair!" Catherine challenged pertly. "Come on out, Zechs, so we can see you."

"Of course it's fair," the low, sultry baritone responded. "I'm the teacher. And you /can/ see me...exercise your mind a little, instead of your eyes. Where am I?"

There was silence for several moments as the students looked frantically around them, each determined to be the one to uncover their instructor's hiding place.

Finally--"You're on the pond," Heero said flatly, as if he'd been waiting for someone else to come to the same conclusion and only now conceded to answering the question himself. 

"Very good," said the voice, and the air above the water shimmered and took form, becoming a tall, lithe man, fair-skinned and bare-chested, with a tribal tattoo encircling one bicep and long platinum hair cascading to his shoulders. He wore torn jeans and moccasins, and what looked like /vines/, wrapped around his body and tangling in his hair.

And he was standing on the water. 

Duo stared as he padded across the transparent surface of the pond without creating so much as a ripple and alighted near Relena on the edge of it. "The rest of you," he said in mock-sternness, "should concentrate a little harder on the actual task, and less on looking like you're doing it." His warm smile put Duo at ease as quickly as Une's glare had intimidated him, and he found himself relaxing. 

It didn't take long to decide that this was going to be his favourite class. Zechs taught about the natural world--he was a shaman, whose gift seemed to be almost anything relating to plantlife. He coaxed a small chain of violets to grow and tangle themselves into Duo's loose hair, which made Hilde and Catherine swoon melodramatically before collapsing into giggles on the grass, and made Heero stare at him for what felt like an eternity before tearing his gaze away and fixing it on the floor. Duo blushed, and Quatre flashed him an encouraging smile and patted his shoulder reassuringly.

"What do you have next?" the blonde boy asked--he was wearing red, today, which made him look far less like a faded watercolour painting. "Besides lunch, I mean. That's what we all have."

Duo shrugged. "I'm still following Hilde," he answered, and the very mention of her name was enough to summon the dark-haired sprite's attention.

"Study hall, today," she said with a shrug. "Monday and Wednesday we'll have a session with Miss Noin after lunch, Duo, but the rest of the time we just work on whatever projects they've given us to practice. Since you don't have any yet, maybe you should use it to go talk to Mr. Treize?"

"That won't work," Relena pointed out. "Heero and I have class with Mr. Treize then. He'll have to wait til--no, the talent show's after dinner. Tomorrow then. He'll understand, don't worry. Duo's got to have time to figure out where he is."

"Are you coming to the talent show?" Quatre asked, and when Duo nodded, his smile lit up his face. "I'm glad! It'll be a good chance for you to relax with us, and get used to things instead of feeling under so much pressure. I know it takes some adjusting, but you'll get used to it in no time. Trust me."

"Actually, you're calming me down," Duo said, startled to discover it was true. "I'm not feeling nearly as overwhelmed as I was."

Quatre winked at him and hurried back to Trowa's side, where the taller boy was trying to commune with the spirit of some small plant. Hilde tugged on Duo's arm, pulling him down to where she and Catherine were attempting something similar.

"Help us with this!"

"Help you /what/?"  


"Talk to the flower!" 

Duo rolled his eyes and joined them in staring at the plant.

***********

Somehow, Duo made it through the rest of the day with his brain intact. Zechs' class was followed by a lunch of cheese sandwiches and french fries, which more than made up for his missed breakfast. Then he and Hilde spent their study hour in a comprehensive tour of the entire school--as well as walking from his room to the dining room to each of their classrooms four or five times til he was sure he knew the way. She asked him questions while they walked, about where he came from and what his life had been like and what his real talent was, as well as explaining some of the harder points of the day's lessons he hadn't been quite able to grasp. From there they went to Treize' class, where he caught his first glimpse of the elusive Sylvia Noventa, a small blonde wisp of a girl in a paint-spattered smock and bluejeans--but she was merely making her excuses to Mr. Treize before she slipped wraithlike out the classroom door.

And then that class was over as well, with Duo's head feeling like it would explode under the influx of information, and Hilde was dragging him off to a dinner table where the dishes flew around over his head and everyone seemed determined to swallow their entire meal as quickly as possible before running off to put the finishing touches on whatever they had planned for the evening's event: the Talent Show.

"You're not going to do /anything/?" he asked Hilde, disappointed, as they wandered back to their hall.

She shook her head. "Couldn't think of anything. Not that would actually impress people, anyway. See Quatre's a musician, and the twins were part of a circus before they came here, and Wufei--well, I couldn't do anything to top their acts, so I won't. I'll keep you company instead. We can sit in the front row and heckle the performers."

"How many rows are there going to /be/?" Duo pointed out, and she grinned. 

"True, true. Though technically we were allowed to invite our families to this one. I don't think anybody did." Her voice darkened a little, and Duo looked at her curiously.

"What's wrong?"

She shrugged, feigning indifference. "Nothing. Most of our families don't want anything to do with us, that's all. That's why they sent us here. Quatre's sister's a sweetheart, and Dorothy gets letters every now and then...and as far as I know, Heero and the twins don't /have/ families. But those of us who do...let's just say my stepmother spelled my name wrong on the Christmas card she sent me."

"I'm sorry," said Duo, shifting uncomfortably. 

Hilde gave him a tight smile. "Hey, it's okay. Should be used to it anyway. Go get dressed up, I'll meet you in your room before we head down." She reached up to trail her fingers through the violet-stem braided through his hair, adding, "Oh--Duo? Leave your hair like that, will you?" and disappearing into her room.

It didn't take Duo long to sort through his limited wardrobe and decide that a black silk shirt and black cotton slacks were the dressiest thing he'd ever owned in his life. He still wore his boots--they were scuffed, true, and worn out, but they matched, and he was beginning to realise he'd formed some strange sentimental attachment to them. He was surprised and pleased, taking in his own reflection in the mirror, to see that the violets really did bring do something to enliven his hair and bring out his eyes. //_As if I'm trying to impress anybody with my looks,_// he thought dryly. Still, it was intoxicating to be thought attractive, even if it was only by himself.

Hilde gave the door a quick warning knock before poking her head in the door. "You ready? Ooh, you look nice. C'mon, let's go." She too was dressed in black, a tight velvet t-shirt and short cotton skirt over black tights and a pair of clunky boots of her own. A trio of silver necklaces in varying lengths hung around her neck, glittering in the light. She led him down the stairs, through hallways that were finally--after spending all afternoon getting acquainted with them--starting to look familiar, and into a room that had been decourated with lush velvet draperies framing a "stage" in the centre of the room.

"Hilde! Duo! Over here!" There was no real reason for Dorothy to call to them--there were only three rows of chairs, after all, and most of them were vacant. But she waved them over, and they settled into the chairs next to her. " It won't be a very long show, unless Trowa and Catherine drag things out for a while," she said. "It's Wufei first, then Relena's helping him with something...then the twins, and Quatre finishing things up."

"Long or not, I'm intrigued," Hilde confessed with a grin. "Is Sylvia coming? I was going to bet with Cathy that she wouldn't, but Trowa talked us out of it."

Dorothy laughed. "Thank him, then, he saved you some money. Quatre went down there earlier to convince her to come. When I saw her, she was painting Duo on the wall."

Duo's eyes widened. "Me?" he asked, just in case he hadn't heard right, or there was some other Duo wandering about the school.

Dorothy nodded. "That's right. It's a picture of you, holding a green glowing scythe in your hands. If you want to see it I'll take you down there later and show you. Oh--here they come."

She motioned toward the door, where Wufei was just arriving--and with him, Sylvia Noventa. Wufei was dressed up, as they all were, in a dark blue Chinese-style suit, flashes of indigo threads showing the outline of dragons in the fabric. Sylvia, by contrast, was still in her colour-spattered smock and stocking feet, and jeans with a hole in one knee. She toyed nervously with a strand of hair, tucking it continuously behind her ear and twining it around her fingers.

Wufei steered her over toward them and pulled out a chair for her next to Dorothy. She perched there for a moment, then stood again and crossed to stand directly in front of Duo.

"Hello," she whispered.

"Hi," Duo said, with what he hoped was a reassuring smile.

It must have been, because she offered one of her own, her lips twisting faintly upward at the corners. "I'm Sylvia," she said, her voice barely audible. 

This conversation, at least, seemed fairly normal. "Nice to meet you. I'm Duo."

She nodded slightly. "I know." Her smile widened, and her eyes took on a vacant stare. "Find out something only dead men know...."

Duo's eyebrows shot up. "Excuse me?"

She tilted her head, sing-songing quietly, her fingers reaching for the violets in his hair and stoking gently through the chestnut mane. "Larded all with sweet flowers; which bewept to the grave did not go, with true love showers...."

Duo sat very, very still, too conscious of her vacant, pale eyes and her fingers in his hair. "I'm sorry--?"

She smiled again, brushing his cheek. "Violets. Faithfulness. Even after death, though they may wither then."

"Ah." Duo nodded, hoping he was giving her whatever response it was she required. It seemed to be enough, because she dropped her hand to her side again and shuffled back to her chair, where she gazed off into space.

Hilde squeezed his hand. "She gets like that. Don't worry, you're not expected to understand her. None of us do."

Duo sighed in relief. "I'm glad, because I have no idea what she said."

"_Hamlet,_" Dorothy interrupted, leaning across Hilde to explain. Her lips twisted into a sad, wry smile. " 'I would give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died.' Ophelia. Act four, scene five."

"Oh," said Duo. "Never read it." 

Dorothy shrugged. "You should sometime. Oh, there's Heero. And Zechs, and Miss Noin--wonder where Sally is? Guess we'll be starting soon."

No sooner had she so observed, than the lights dimmed. Treize and Une slipped in the door behind Noin, who took her place in front of the audience. She was dressed up as well, in a long violet dress with a diamond suspended from her neck.

"Welcome to the first ever St. Gabriel Institute Talent Show," she announced, trying to sound serious behind her mischievious smile. "I daresay you'll see things here that would put any normal circus to shame--so sit back and enjoy the show!" She took a seat behind them, next to Zechs, and the lights went to total blackout. 

A quick burst of flame ignited a torch on one side of the "stage" that Duo hadn't even realised was there. Another joined it, on the other side, and Wufei was slowly revealed standing between them, his head bowed, his hands before him as if in prayer.

Then, from somewhere--perhaps thin air--he pulled a sword. Hilde let out a delighted gasp and nudged Duo's shoulder. "He's going to do a sword dance! Usually he'll never show us these!" Dorothy was already too enrapt to listen, and Duo too watched in silence. The sword dance, while not the elabourate show of supernatural prowess he'd been expecting, was unlike anything he'd ever seen before. Wufei's movements were slow and deliberate, and in the dim glow of the firelight seemed unearthly. When at last he came to a halt in the centre of the stage, bowing once again to his audience, Duo was breathless.

And then the stage burst into flame around him.

Fire danced in a widening circle around the exotic swordsman, licking the curtains but never completely devouring them, flickering along the edges of his sword and playing along his fingertips. But before it could grow too much, droplets of water sprinkled from the ceiling above, dampening and slowly quenching it. 

Relena appeared from the shadows, clad in a shimmering indigo gown, sodden hair falling in dark wet coils around her shoulders. She lifted her hands. Wufei raised his sword.

The next several minutes were perfectly choreographed and, to Duo, utterly unbelievable. Wufei, he realised, was a firestarter. He called flames from the air, or from his fingers, and Relena summoned streams of water just as easily. The two elements danced round each other, as did their creators, until in one last final moment they embraced, and the resulting steam obscured them from all view as they disappeared.

Applause erupted from the audience, far louder than what so few people should have been able to do. Even Sylvia bounced to her feet, her eyes bright and sparkling.

"I see what you mean about not being able to top them," Duo muttered to Hilde under his breath.

She flashed him a grin. "Just wait. They're not even the best part."

Wufei and Relena appeared as the cheers were dying down, miraculously un-singed and un-waterlogged, and took two of the empty chairs. "Trowa and Cathy next," Relena mouthed to Hilde, who nodded in response.

There was a flash of light. Not fire this time, but coloured lights, dazzling and blinding and utterly dizzying, as the twins descended from the ceiling in a billow of smoke. Cathy was in violet satin, with a sheer tulle skirt, and feathers in her hair; Trowa's costume was a skintight harlequin's motley. Duo didn't need to look closely to know neither was on a line, but that rather Catherine's telekinesis was keeping them both afloat. They landed, each with a gracious bow, and Trowa cartwheeled backward until he reached the wall.

Catherine opened her hands, displaying a collection of sharp, decourative daggers. She tossed them into the air--only juggling at first, then faster, and faster yet, until it was impossible to distinguish one from another, and they were only a silvery blur around her hands.

Thunk! One hit the back wall, almost pinning Trowa to it. He stood perfectly still, impassive. Another knife divested itself from the blur and sailed toward him--then another, and another, til the air was full of silver and the eye could no longer keep track of where the knives flew and where they landed. 

But when the vision cleared, Trowa had vanished, and his body was outlined perfectly on the wall.

"Psst!" Hilde nudged Duo again. "Look up!"

He did, and saw Trowa--dangling upside-down by one foot from the chandelier, his arms stretched downward. He motioned to his sister, and she leapt upward toward him--and from there the two launched into a trapeze act with no line and no net that involved the entire room and all the furniture in it. It wasn't until they landed in the centre once more, Trowa taking a bow with Catherine perched on his shoulder, that Duo remembered to breathe.

"Incredible," he breathed in satisfaction. Hilde just grinned.

The twins joined the audience as well, and the lights signified change of act yet one more time. Quatre entered with less ceremony than the others--he merely stood in the centre of the stage, in an exotic costume of red silk and beadwork, a violin resting against his chin. Silence fell.

And he began to play.

While Duo had never been exposed to too much in the way of cultural events, he was certain no other music in the world sounded quite like this. The song was not merely /heard/, or even sensed--it permeated the universe, seeped into the air, wound its way through his bones and skin to embrace his very heart. He could feel it in his hair, in his breath, he could taste it--it was desperation and eternal rapture, heartbreak without tears, emptiness and ultimate fulfillment--it was too much, too much all at once, and as tears streamed from Duo's eyes he wondered if he would survive to hear the end of it.

Darkness enfolded him, and he floated--then fell, blind and insubstantial--

"Duo!" It was Hilde's voice, screaming. "Quatre, stop!" 

The music broke off--loss, beyond all comprehension, and Duo wanted to cry--there were people about him, calling his name--and pain, pain past anything he'd ever felt before--

"I'm sorry!" Quatre was gasping tearfully. Hands seized Duo's shoulders and pulled him up. "I'm sorry--I didn't mean to--somebody get Sally!"

"What's the matter with him?" Dorothy was asking, and he could hear the scrape of chairs moving against the floor, and the pound of feet. 

A scream broke through the darkness, and chaos erupted. Too many voices, all talking at once, calling his name, calling for someone named Sally or trying to hush the screaming.

"Quatre, see to Sylvia--"

"What happened? What's the matter with Duo? Why is Sylvia screaming?"

And amid it all, strong arms gathered him up and held him close. "I've got him," a low soft voice said firmly, soothing Duo's inflamed skin and calming his heart. 

"Good--Heero, take him to Sally." Treize was calm, always calm, no matter what the situation.

Duo felt movement, and the voices faded behind him. Still cloaked in darkness, he snuggled into the shelter of those arms, comforted--he had never felt /safe/ like this before, and he wanted to hold onto the sensation forever.

And then even the feel of those arms faded away.


	4. Something More than Fantasy

*********

Chapter Four

*********

Sensation, not quite discernable as belonging to any particular form, whirled haphazardly through Duo's consciousness, dizzying, intoxicating—he held on, instinctively, to some /core/ at the centre of his being, vaguely aware in some distant part of himself that his body was slowly forcing itself awake.

A flash of vivid, violent blue before his face reformed, becoming a pair of intense deep eyes—Heero's eyes, he realised, fixed on his face and full of worry.

"Sally, he's awake."

He felt the slip of fingers sliding away from his own as Heero stood, his visage replaced with a woman's, blonde and sweet-faced, a white lab coat thrown over a dark green t-shirt. "Duo?" Her voice was a smokey alto, as soothing as the cool fingers she touched to his flushed forehead. "How do you feel?"

He blinked. It hurt. "I'm not sure...hot. What happened?"

Her lips tightened, the first sign of strain visible on her face. "That's what I'd like to know. Don't worry, we'll find out. In the meantime, I'm keeping you here for a while so I can keep an eye on you." She brushed a strand of flower-strewn hair behind Duo's ear with a gentle smile. "It could just be something as simple as your never having been exposed to a gift like Quatre's before, compounded by the stress of trying to get used to this place."

Duo forced a smile past the dryness of his lips. "Or I could be some kind of freak who can't listen to music, right?"

Sally looked amused. "Hardly. I can almost guarantee that no ordinary music would have had the same effect. This goes deeper, which I'm sure you already know in your head."

Duo nodded concession, letting out a long breath. "I know it, but I don't understand it."

"Quatre's a Siren," Heero said flatly. He was leaning against the wall in the corner, standing with his arms crossed over his chest and a protective expression on his face. "He senses emotions and manipulates them through sound."

Pieces of the puzzle began to fall into place in Duo's head. "So what I felt—"

"Was what he wanted you to feel," Sally confirmed. "Happy, blissfully so. Why that sparked the reaction it did—well, I told you I don't know that yet. But I'll find out."

"So instead of being a freak who can't listen to music I'm a freak who can't feel happy?" Duo clarified impishly.

"Hmph. Baka," growled Heero from his corner.

"What?" Duo asked, blinking as the room threatened to fade away again. "What's that mean?"

Heero fixed his gaze on the floor. "Nothing."

"Well it didn't sound very nice." Duo pressed his hands to the mattress of the sickroom cot, pushing himself upright. "By the way...what happened to Sylvia?"

"She started screaming when you fell down," Heero answered. "Quatre was calming her down when I left to bring you here. Since nobody's said anything about her since, I assume she's all right."

"She is," Sally confirmed, though Duo had no idea how she knew. He imagined it was just another aspect of the place and its inhabitants. "Quatre and Wufei took her back to her room."

"I finally met her," Duo said slowly, remembering the blonde waif's nonsensical words. "She kept talking about death. Dorothy said she painted me on the wall, but I hadn't even met her."

"That doesn't matter, with Sylvia," Heero said dryly, but there was an undertone of concern in his voice. "What did she tell you?"

"To find out what only dead men know," Duo answered, the words—and the soft voice—ringing in his head and sending chills down his spine. "And something about a grave, and true love showers—I think that was a song. And about violets and faithfulness."

"That's what the flowers used to mean," Sally explained, perching on the corner of the cot. "It used to be, you could have an entire conversation with someone by trading flowers with them. Violets were a sign of enduring faithfulness."

"Even after death," finished Duo, remembering the last part of Sylvia's unsettling portent. "Everything she said had death in it."

"Don't worry." Heero fixed him with a stern glare. "Everything Sylvia says is so vague it's almost impossible for anyone but Miss Noin to interpret. Don't get worked up because she babbled about death to you. It probably doesn't mean what you think."

Duo was not convinced, even when Sally voiced her agreement.

*********

"You had us all worried, you know!" Hilde said accusingly, perched atop a stool that had been set next to Duo's cot. Sally had insisted by morning that Heero get some rest, and the reluctant boy had conceded his protective vigil to Hilde. Not, Duo thought wryly, that he really needed protection from anything—and if he did, standing next to him was unlikely to accomplish it.

"Sorry," he told his section-mate with a shrug. "You know I didn't mean to."  
  
"Yeah, I know." She pulled her knees up to her chin, nibbling pensively at her bottom lip. "Quatre feels horrible about it, and it wasn't his fault either."

Duo nodded. "Tell him I said it's okay? If you think that'll help. I mean..." he fumbled for words, and Hilde waited patiently—and uncharacteristically silent—for him to find them. "The first part was brilliant—incredible. I can't even begin to describe it. It didn't hurt or anything, honest." A pause. "Heero explained what he is to me."

A slow smile quirked Hilde's lips. "It was pretty awesome at first, wasn't it? He's just sensitive, because he's been told for so long he's dangerous."

"Dangerous? Why?" It was not the word Duo would have applied to the talent that brought such bliss, even for a short time.

"Think about it." Hilde shifted again, swinging her legs. "It's not always playing the violin, you know. You remember how it feels just to hear him /talk/? That's how he got Sylvia to go to the show. Quatre can make people do...well, anything, really. Just by asking them to and playing with their emotions a bit." When Duo nodded his understanding, she flashed him a grin. "Between his talent and Trowa's, though, their sex life has to be incredible."

Duo could /feel/ himself turning red, and the heat rising to flood his cheeks. "Hilde!"

She giggled. "Well? I'm a growing girl, it's not like I don't think about these things! Don't be so provincial!"

Duo rolled to his side and buried his face in his pillow. "Do I even want to ask what Trowa does? Or can you not tell me anyway?" he asked, his voice muffled.

He didn't have to be looking at her to tell she was grinning madly. "Oh, I'll tell you—I gave him plenty of time to show you himself, he lost his chance. He's a doppelganger."

That was not a word Duo had ever heard used in a complimentary fashion, and his eyes flew open as he peeked out over the pillow. "Say again?"

Hilde giggled. "He changes form. He can look like anybody—imitate their body, their face, their voice. Imagine the role-playing possibilities. In fact, I could be Trowa right now, and not Hilde. But I'm not."

"Trowa doesn't talk that much," Sally observed, joining them in the room after a conference with Treize and Noin. 

Hilde sniffled. "So? He could be a good actor."

"We can find out," Duo suggested, a wicked gleam in his eye. "Chop your hand off, and if it grows back, I know you're Hilde."

"Not in /my/ infirmary," Sally interrupted, laughing. "But he's got you there, Hilde, we all have ways of knowing it's you."

"Hmph," Hilde pouted. It didn't last long. "So you were out talking to Mr. Treize and Miss Noin—did you learn anything? Do you know yet what's wrong with Duo?"

Sally's eyes darkened, and she shook her head. "Not exactly."

Duo sat up again. "What's 'not exactly' mean?"

"It means," Sally informed him sternly, "that while we have every reason to believe Quatre's talent merely woke something up inside you that had been dormant til then, and even an inkling of what that something is, what we /don't/ have any real theories on is why it happened, or how to keep it from happening again."

An unhappy knot formed in the bottom of Duo's stomach. "What do I do in the meantime?"

Sally smiled reassuringly. "You relax." Before he could protest in any way, though he was about to, she held up a stalling hand. "I mean it. I know this transition has been hard on you—we all know that. You've been dealing admirably with the stress, but it's more than anyone should be expected to take in and absorb in two days."

"Didn't the rest of you all have to?" Duo asked sickly.

"Hell no!" Hilde reached across the bed to squeeze his hand. "We all knew there was something weird about us long before we got here! You're the only one that's ever had everything erupt so suddenly on them, and I think you've been coping fabulously!"

"Really?"

Sally nodded. "The only other person to have everything thrust on them so quickly was Lady Une," she said sadly. "And you've seen—or at least heard—what happened to her. So rest. Relax."

Duo just nodded acquiescence. 

The door swung open and a silky blonde head poked in. "Is Duo awake?" Quatre asked, sounding nervous even through the velvety caress of his melodic voice. 

"I'm fine," Duo said, summoning a smile. "Come on in." 

Quatre approached, hovering awkwardly at the edge of the bed. "How're you feeling?"

"I'm fine," Duo promised. "It's okay, you know. Not your fault."

"I'm sorry," Quatre said anyway. "Oh—and I brought you this." He pulled a wrinkled envelope out of his pocket and handed it to Duo. "We got mail."

"Huh?" Duo took it, flustered. "Who's sending me—" Still, he could hardly wait to rip it open. He never got mail. Of course, mail required two other things he'd never had—a permanent address, and someone who cared enough to send it. 

"My sister, of course," Quatre answered with a shrug, though it was plain from the sparkle in his pale eyes he knew exactly the effect even such a small note was having on Duo. And a small note it was—written the day he'd left the hospital, apparently, guaranteeing it would arrive quickly and in time to catch him in the midst of settling in.

//_How're you getting used to things? I hope it's working out for you. Keep me updated, and let me know right away if you need anything. –Iria Winner_//

"She means it," Quatre added, when Duo's gaze flickered upward to rest on his face. 

"Oh." Duo's fingers crinkled the paper absently. "Tell her thank you, then."

Quatre chuckled. "Tell her yourself. You can write. Let me know when you need the address."

"Um, okay," Duo agreed. 

Quatre turned to leave, and paused with the door partly open. "Oh—I almost forgot. As soon as Sally says you're okay to get up and everything, Mr. Treize wants to talk to you in his office, Duo...." 

The healer nodded, pressing her finger appraisingly to Duo's temple. "I think you're all right for it, Duo—Quatre, will you walk him down there just in case?" She crossed her arms over her chest as Duo crawled out of the cot. "And remember, Duo—relax."

Duo nodded obediently. "I will." Quatre rested a hand on his shoulder, squeezing gentle reassurance, and led him out the door.

***********

"Duo," Treize said gently, seated languid and relaxed behind his desk, "what do you know about your parents?" As poised as he was, he leaned forward ever so slightly, genuine interest alight in his eyes. 

Duo stared blankly at his fingers, interlaced in his lap to keep him from fiddling too much with them. "Nothing." He shrugged. "Never even heard anybody talk who knew 'em. Sorry."

"I see." Treize nodded, and Duo was certain he caught a flicker of sadness in the man's clear blue eyes. "Then we'll move to something else. And—I'm sorry, Duo. I meant to corner you for a plain chat without all of this interfering, but it seems more important to get to the bottom of you right now than to put you at ease." He sighed. "Miss Noin explained to me what happened before you were brought here. Do you know anything about that, or do you even remember it?"

Duo shook his head, feeling hopelessly inadequate. "I'm sorry, sir. I didn't even remember it happening then."

Treize graced him with a comforting smile. "It's all right, that's hardly your fault. Now—I'd like you to try something for me." Duo nodded, and he continued. "Close your eyes...and relax, nothing will harm you here, you have my word. Sink inside yourself—feel your blood pumping through your veins, feel your heartbeat, and the inner workings of your body. Tell me—can you feel the power there?"

And astoundingly—remarkable perhaps only because he'd never bothered to /look/ before—Duo could. He nodded, amasement masking his features. "I do!" he breathed—he didn't know what to do with it now he had found it, but he could feel it there, pulsing through his heart and body as surely as the more mundane elements. "It's like light," he exclaimed, the words tumbling over themselves in their haste to leave his lips. "Like it's warm, bubbling almost, moving all through me—"

He opened his eyes to see Treize watching him, a satisfied smile curving his lips. "Well done," he said, and Duo broke into a grin. At last, at last he was making some progress toward understanding what he was doing here.

"One more thing I'd like you to try, Duo," Treize said kindly. "I want you to try to harness that energy you feel, to make it answer you." He noted the boy's skeptical expression and reached across the desk to pat his arm. "I don't expect you to have control over it yet, that's why we're doing this here. Just call it. Make it answer you. Even if it does something destructive, you can't do any damage in here that I can't take care of. All right? So give it a try."

Duo nodded, a long shuddering breath steeling himself for further journeying into his deeper self. He closed his eyes—insinuated his spirit into the inner core of himself, sinking into the light he'd felt only a few minutes before.

He willed it to answer him—called to it, begged it, summoned it.

Nothing happened.

He could still feel it there, could see it almost, but he couldn't evoke a response from it, couldn't bend it to respond to his own will. His head began to throb, and a hand on his shoulder called him back to himself.

"I think perhaps," Treize said thoughtfully, "that we need something stronger. It was your fear that it answered to before, and your happiness that caused the breakdown last night. Perhaps for now, at least until you have some feel for it to practice with, that it's those strong emotions we need to use to bring it forth."

"You mean I need to be that afraid again," Duo said flatly, a knot forming in the pit of his stomach.

The fingers on his shoulder tightened. "Only for a moment. Only long enough for the power to answer to it. I've already told you, nothing here will really harm you."

"Then how am I supposed to be that afr—" Duo began, and broke off. "Never mind. Of course, I understand. But—what if I hurt someone?"

"It will be all right," Treize promised, then his fingers left Duo's shoulder as he opened the office door. "Lady," he requested calmly, "would you please retrieve Mr. Winner before he gets too involved in 'studying' with Mr. Barton?"

The lady, today without her glasses and wearing her hair loose around her shoulders, nodded. "Of course...."

The knot in Duo's belly was growing tighter by the second.


	5. The Native Hue of Resolution

***********

Chapter Five

***********

"Of course," Treize assured, "I'm not about to force you, if you're worried about anything going wrong...."

Quatre shook his head, flashing Duo a reassuring smile. "No, it's all right. I'll do it." Duo tried to sink into the back wall and make himself invisible, but his as-yet-unclassified talent apparently did not include either of these features. "You just want me to scare him?"

Treize shook his head. "Not 'scare', exactly, Quatre. Terrify. Whatever it takes to get some supernatural response from him."

The blonde Siren merely nodded. "Are you ready, Duo?"

"Come away from the wall, if you please," Treize directed, with a protective glance at the framed photographs gracing his wall. Duo did. "Thank you. Now—Duo, do whatever comes naturally to you, but try to pay attention and remember exactly what happens. Quatre—whenever you're ready."

Quatre nodded acquiescence, with another small smile for Duo. Then he opened his mouth and began to sing—wordless, melody only, and suffused with /power/ that crackled along Duo's skin.

The song raised goosebumps on every exposed inch of his skin. His heart raced, his breath coming ragged and heaving in his lungs. Never in all Duo's life—his days on the streets, cold nights in homeless shelters, haphazard flights from gangs like the one that had ended him up here—never had he ever been so frightened. He could put no name to this fear, and that made it all the more palpable. The chilling of his blood separated his own Power from it, and he felt it coursing through his veins toward his hands. In some detached part of his mind he saw Treize lean forward, watching—saw Quatre's eyes light up in fierce victory. The scream that rose from his throat and burst from his lips echoed in his mind the way a dream would, and the surge of energy bursting from his fingertips left no room for protest from his conscious mind. It ripped from his hands, a stream of light that lit the room around him and smashed brutally into the Siren, throwing him backward. The song cut off abruptly as the wind was knocked from him, and Duo's terror dissipated as Quatre hit the wall and slid limply down it. 

"Quatre!" He was already running—a few paces, only, the length of the office—but Treize was there first, kneeling next to him.

"I'm all right," Quatre protested, pushing himself onto his arms. "Really. Just need to catch my breath." 

"You're bleeding," Duo informed him miserably, though he couldn't identify the placement of the wound.

"Am I?" Quatre brushed his fingers across the skin Duo pointed to, his eyes widening in surprise as he lifted them away covered in dark red fluid. "Well. So I am."

"You," Treize directed, "are going to see Sally." He offered the blonde boy his hand, but even Duo could see that Quatre needed it to hold onto even in order to stand. 

"I'm sorry," he whimpered again.

"I /said/ I'm all right!" Quatre snapped, leaning heavily against the wall. He forced his lips into an apologetic smile as Duo pulled quickly away. "Really," he said again, wiping his bloody finger off on his jeans. "I'll go see Sally when we're done here, if it makes you two happy, but we shouldn't stop now. We're onto something, did you see?"

"I /saw/ that I knocked you into the wall!" Duo snarled. "How is that 'onto something'?"

"It answered you!" Quatre returned. "Don't you get it? Now you know what it is and what triggers it, it's the first step to understanding how to control it!"

"It's a good first step," Treize inserted smoothly between the boys' heated conversation. "And it's finished for today. Neither of you are exactly in peak performance shape at the moment, and Mr. Winner, despite words to the contrary I can see from here you're injured. You will both report to Sally Po. When she gives the okay—and NOT before—you will carry on with your classes. And I'd like you both to report here tomorrow directly after lunch."

His tone left no room for argument, and Duo and Quatre nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Now then. Go see Sally. You've done a good day's work, you should be quite pleased." He ushered the boys out the door and pointed them in the direction of the infirmary.

"I really am sorry," Duo said again.

Quatre shot him a wry, amused glare. "And I said don't be. I'm okay. It takes more than that to damage me. Besides, I knew what was probably going to happen, but I did it anyway."

"Oh," said Duo. "Then thank you."

The blonde boy rolled his eyes. "No problem. Think of it this way—this is controlled circumstances. You're not likely to do anything irreparable with Mr. Treize in the room, so everything we do there builds up to your being able to harness that same power on call, when you want it. Worst case scenario, I get banged up a bit, Sally fixes me."

It was amasing, really, how Quatre could make it sound like the most logical, rational thing in the world, and Duo could only wonder how come it hadn't sounded so sensible before. "All right," he agreed. Quatre let out a sigh of relief, and led him through Sally's door.

The healer proclaimed them both fit for duty within minutes. Quatre was more shaken than anything; the blood came from a wound where his shoulder had caught a nail in the wall before he fell. It was the first time Duo had ever seen Sally work—she pressed her fingers against the parted skin, a soft glow enveloped her hands, and when she lifted it away again there was only a tiny scar where the injury had been. Duo she reminded to relax, and sent them both off to catch up on their classes before dinner.

Duo slipped into Philosophy about halfway through. Noin was filling in for Treize, and she merely nodded to him as he entered—no explanations were needed, and he slid into a desk next to Hilde.

"How did it go?" she asked under her breath.

He shrugged, taking the paper and pencil she passed to him. "Okay. Not great. Tell you later." 

As he was trying to catch up on whatever it was Miss Noin was saying, a folded piece of paper skittered along the floor. It reached his chair and levitated upward, finally settling in the centre of his desk. 

He shot Catherine a look—she caught his eye and winked, then went back to taking notes. Duo unfolded the scrap: //_Is Quatre okay?_// Simple enough, and it wasn't hard to figure out who was responsible for it. He scribbled underneath: //_Just a little bruised. He's fine._// and was not in the least surprised when the note leapt off his desk to the floor and floated back toward the twins.

Noin cleared her throat pointedly. "One would think," she said dryly, "that whatever it is could wait another fifteen minutes until the end of class. Catherine—" The name was a directive, and Catherine sighed, obediently sending the note winging toward the instructor. She caught it in midair, unfolded it, and glanced down at the scribbled missive.

"I expect, Trowa, that you would have been informed /before/ Duo came back to class if anything was wrong. But," she finished, crossing to the doppelganger's desk and dropping the paper onto it, "we'll alleviate your worries here and now. Quatre's fine. Now can you concentrate on this for the next fifteen minutes?" 

Trowa nodded sheepishly. "Yes. Sorry."

"Good." She continued, but Duo never did completely catch up, and he told Hilde so as they hurried for the dining room.

"Oh, don't worry," she said, nonchalant. "I'll help you out. And you can always ask one of the teachers for help. Besides, nobody expects you to really have a handle on things your third day."

Duo was too hungry to worry about it any longer than that. 

"Hey," said Dorothy, in the midst of her meal, by way of getting everyone's attention. "Just wondering who's up for Friday game night? I got a few new ones from my grandfather yesterday."

"I'll come," said Quatre. "You will too, won't you?" he added, prompting a nod from Trowa, who sat next to him. "After all, Dorothy, you and I have a chess match to finish..."

"Bah." Dorothy waved the implied challenge away. "Who needs that? I just got Risk. Chess is so small-scale...let's see who can take over the world."

A feral, competitive gleam light Quatre's blue eyes. "You're on. Wufei?"

A nod from the Chinese firebrand. "Of course."

"Teams?" Catherine suggested. "Split up by sections?"

Wufei cocked his head. "So, since we know Sylvia won't play, that means Quatre and Dorothy and I each work alone...you and Trowa together, Heero and Relena, and Hilde and Duo?" He nodded. "That sounds fair."

"I think," Catherine grumbled to Hilde, "that we've just been insulted somehow."

Hilde shrugged. "Only one way to fix that. Beat 'em. You up to it, Duo?"

"Sure."

They finished eating, and adjourned en masse to Dorothy's room, where it appeared the group had staged similar events before. The chess board, in the middle of the game Quatre had already mentioned, was set up on the desk. Dorothy's room looked far more delicate than Duo would have expected from her—her curtains were eyelet lace, her bedspread silk with embroidered cherry blossoms, and the furniture was all matching dark wood, carved into Victorian swirls.

She was already dragging the Risk game from under her bed, as the rest of the students took their places on the floor. "Here—start setting up, picking colours. Anyone for munchies? I told you I got a care package...." 

"Just so it's not any of those sugar-fied gummy things Hilde likes so much," Wufei said, passing out the boxes of armies to the players. 

Dorothy laughed. "No worries—anyway I asked for things this time, here, this is for you." She passed him a box of something that made his face light up, and she giggled again. "Here's the rest. Mochi for Heero, chocolate for Cathy, pretzels for Hilde—you don't get any sugar, do you understand?—this is for Trowa...and Quatre...Duo, sorry, didn't get you anything. You weren't here yet when I was asking for stuff. You can share mine all you want. Relena, this is yours. And popcorn for everybody. We set up?"

They began the game. Duo had never played, but he found more than enough willing tutours, and as he was on a team with Hilde he never really had to formulate his own moves. And he discovered quickly enough that it probably wouldn't have mattered how many people were on his team, or how well he understood the game—Quatre, Wufei and Dorothy were so far superior to the rest of them in their grasp of battle tactics that it was all he and his teammate could do to hold onto Australia and keep themselves in the game. Catherine and Trowa held viciously to Greenland and eastern Canada, and Heero and Relena still owned Madagascar and were building up armies in Brazil.

None of them really even had a chance.

It took several hours past the point when the three losing teams had given up and draped themselves around Dorothy's room to watch, talk and distract the would-be dictators, but Quatre was finally crowned King of the World after wiping out Dorothy, taking her cards and countries, and launching an all-out blitzkrieg on Wufei.

"Wanna play again?" Dorothy asked slyly. 

Quatre made a face at her. "Are you kidding? It's two in the morning. I'm going to go to bed now and bask in my victory. Trowa, you want to be my consort and come celebrate with me?" Not surprisingly to anyone, the taller boy agreed, and the pair of them disappeared out the door.

"You'd better get some rest too," Hilde said, nudging Duo, who had been falling asleep on her shoulder for the past half hour. "Sally says you have to rest, and you said you're working with Mr. Treize and Quatre again tomorrow...c'mon. Get up. Dammit, Duo, get off me! Go to bed!" Laughing, she hauled him up, fairly dragging him to the door. "Heero, wanna make yourself useful and carry him again?" But her suggestion was met only with a blush and a glare, and Hilde was stuck dragging the half-conscious Duo back to his room on her own.

************

The following afternoon saw Duo, Quatre and Trowa standing in front of Treize' office, waiting for the headmaster to arrive. 

"You're helping today too?" Duo asked the tall doppelganger, who nodded. 

"Just keeping an eye on Quatre," he confirmed, evoking an annoyed grumble from his boyfriend.

"I said I'm fine! I told you all I'm fine! I caught my shoulder on a damn nail, stop worrying about me already!"

"I'm glad to see you all here," said a smooth voice, announcing Treize' arrival as he slipped past them to unlock the door. "Let's get started, shall we?"

They followed him inside, Duo and Quatre taking up the same positions they'd had the day before, Trowa standing protectively at Quatre's side. 

"We established yesterday," Treize explained, "that Duo's ability is triggered by intense emotion—or at least, intense fear, because it's inclined to defend him against the thing causing that fear. Without his control, after all, it did aim straight for Quatre. Now I'd like to evoke that same reaction, only this time, Duo, stop it if you can. About the point when it pools in your hands, keep it there as long as you can—keep it from leaving your body. Close your fingers, and keep it inside."

Duo nodded. "I'll try."

"Good. Quatre?" 

Despite Trowa's protective glare, Quatre nodded. He was standing against the wall this time, Duo noted—less distance to travel if he /did/ get thrown again. He began to sing, and Duo felt the familiar chill of terror spreading through his bones, and the rush of adrenaline that summoned the green glow of Power to his hands. 

It coursed through him—pooled in his hands, and he clenched his fingers against it, willing it not to leave his body. It took more effort than he'd anticipated—what sounded easy enough in theory was considerably more difficult when his entire body was cold with fear and all the primal survival urges in his body said to smash the thing causing the fear until it stopped, until he was free of it.

He strained against the surge of Power trying to free itself, his mind bending under its onslaught, his heart frozen and pounding in his chest. He faltered at last, and the light burst from his hands in a wild rush even stronger than the one before—

And abruptly it lit the room, as it was repelled. A shield of visible, crackling blue energy had formed around Quatre, with Trowa at the centre of it. The strength of Duo's blow had forced the doppelganger to his knees, but it was his Power that kept Duo's strike from hitting his lover.

He heard Treize' voice in his ear—"Call it back to you, Duo. Calm it, ease it down...." The man whispered instructions into his ear, and Duo instinctively followed them, the green glow fading from the air until finally it was gone.

Quatre stopped singing. The shield that had kept him safe from Duo's blast dissipated as well, and Trowa let out a long exhausted breath. 

"I think we're getting somewhere," Treize said, sounding pleased.

"Want to go again?" asked Quatre. Trowa fixed him with a glare. "Well you didn't /have/ to do that, lover, much as I appreciate it. If you're tired, don't do it again."

Trowa's expression alone was enough to indicate what he thought of /that/ idea.

But—"I think we should," Treize agreed. "A few minutes rest, though, for Duo especially. If you boys are willing to give up a Saturday afternoon for this..?"

Quatre nodded without hesitation, and Duo and Trowa voiced their agreement. 

"Good," said Treize. "I'm glad to hear it. Catch your breath, then, and we'll get back to work...."

*************

Duo was exhausted. The entire afternoon, and indeed long past it, had been spent working on controlling his powers. It was a good thing, he reflected, that he'd managed to reign in the energy when he had, because while it seemed like Quatre could keep going forever, Trowa's shielding was wearing on him. He'd explained to Duo, during one of the breaks they spend catching their breath, that it was only a secondary talent for him, one he wasn't very strong at for the amount of energy it sapped from him. But he was fiercely protective of Quatre, and that was enough for him to blow himself out shielding his lover.

Duo had discovered, when they had finally split up for the night and the other two boys had walked arm in weary arm back toward Quatre's room, that he was profoundly jealous.

Not specifically of either of them—they were nice, and although he'd never thought of himself as being attracted to men, he could imagine himself re-examining his leanings for either one of them, under other circumstances. But they were completely wrapped up in each other, and he knew he wouldn't have had a chance anyway.

Really, he realised, trudging wearily back up the stairs to his room, he just wanted to talk to somebody. 

So he passed his own door and stood in front of Hilde's instead, his hand poised to knock. He could hear voices inside, so he knew she wasn't asleep yet—he couldn't make out who the other one was, though he was fairly certain it was female.

Tap-tap-tap. He could hear laughter, but no acknowledgement that his section-mate had heard the knock, so he tapped again.

Still nothing.

He turned the knob slowly, easing the door open just enough to peak in and call out, "Hey, Hilde?"—

And stopped, colour rushing to his cheeks to flood his face. The other voice, he quickly discerned, was Catherine's, and she and Hilde were curled up in bed together—at least until he called. Both girls shot upright, the blanket succumbing to gravity to pool on the bed and reveal that neither of them were wearing any clothes.

"Um—sorry—um—" stammered Duo, feeling too awkward to even enjoy the situation he'd just found himself in.

Hilde giggled, diving for the blanket and burrowing under it. Catherine, less modest, shrugged gracefully.

"It's okay. Didn't hear you knock. Need something?"

Duo shook his head frantically. "No—I mean, I was just looking for company, that's all—"

A dark gleam lit up the telekinetic's grey eyes. "Company, huh? You wanna come play with us?"

"No!"

Hilde's arm snaked out from under the blanket to seize Catherine's shoulder and drag her back down. "Stop it, stop it! You're traumatising him! Be nice!"

"Um, I'm gonna go now—" Duo announced, slamming the door shut before things could get any more awkward.

Not wanting to return to his room, where he could be lonely /and/ hear the sounds of the girls' "play" through the wall," he wandered instead. Barely half of the building was actually used by the school, and the rest of it provided an interesting enough place to explore that he was able to keep himself busy long past the point he should have realised he was lost. He ended finally on a balcony off the edge of an unused room, gazing over the low railing at the garden below.

"What are you doing up here?" a low voice asked behind—no, above him, and he looked up to see Heero perched on the edge of the roof, his feet dangling over the edge. He didn't sound upset, just curious, and Duo craned his neck to see him.

"Just wandering. Exploring," he explained, as Heero jumped from the roof to the balcony and folded onto the wood next to him. 

"Why?"

Duo shrugged. It sounded silly, now. "I was lonely, didn't want to go to my room yet. And Hilde's...busy. With Catherine."

"Oh." Heero sounded /almost/ amused, and he patted Duo's shoulder tentatively. "You walked in on them?"

Duo just nodded miserably. "I don't think I've ever been so embarrassed."

"Don't worry about it," Heero suggested sagely. "I embarrassed myself to Dorothy and Relena once, too."

Duo's eyes widened, and he sought the other boy's face for a sign he was joking—but there was none. "You're serious? All four of them? And then Quatre and Trowa—I mean, isn't that tipping the scales just a bit?"

Heero shrugged. "I don't know much about it, out in the real world. The girls here are all lovers with each other because they decided it's safer than being with men. Besides," he added dryly, "who are they going to pair up with here?"

"Well—I guess Trowa and Quatre are together, but you and Wufei are both available, aren't you..?"

Heero shrugged. "I guess so. But really," he added, unable to hide the smile that twisted his lips, "who'd want to date Wufei?"

Duo couldn't be quite sure, but he thought he sensed more, something else Heero had left unsaid, and like an open wound he probed at it. "What about you, though? Wouldn't you want somebody?"

Heero wrapped his arms around his knees and shook his head, staring down at the garden. "I'd be afraid," he answered, a tinge of disbelief in his voice as if he couldn't quite accept he was telling Duo this. "If I had a lover, I mean. I'd be afraid of hurting them. Besides, I wouldn't know how to act." He cut himself off, but Duo remained silent, too engrossed in watching—though he wouldn't have admitted it—the way the moonlight played off Heero's smooth pale skin, and how vulnerable his frail body looked folded in on itself with only the sky behind it. "Besides," he continued finally, "I wouldn't want anybody to know all my secrets the way they do. What if things didn't work out? They'd have more than anyone else to use against me. I don't want to be that open to anybody."

"I suppose I wouldn't mind," said Duo softly, "because I don't have anything to hide."

Heero smiled, a little sadly, and reached without warning to take the end of Duo's braid in his hand and stroke his fingers through it. "I suppose you don't," he answered. "Must be nice."

The moonlight cast its own shadows onto the vaulted roof behind them, and the boys fell silent—but Duo realised, unexpectedly, that he wasn't really lonely anymore.

**********


	6. Though This Be Madness

NIOBE'S VIOLETS

by Ashura

DEDICATION: For Dan, for his 1x2 School fic contest

DISCLAIMERS: The usual. I don't own any of the characters, names or places from GW, I've just warped them. 

WARNINGS: Yaoi (3x4, 1x2), Yuri (HxC, RxD) 

AUTHOR'S NOTES: AU, Humour, Drama. Contrary to what you may think, the inspiration for this actually came from watching "Real Genius" for the millionth time, but influences include the X-Men, Harry Potter, Escaflowne, the Young Ones, and the Heralds of Valdemar. The title...well, that should be explained later.

**********

Chapter Six

**********

Warmth spread like a blanket over Duo's body, light prickling insistently at his closed eyelids and prodding him into drowsy wakefulness. Without opening his eyes, he couldn't pinpoint exactly where he was—too hard to be a bed, except for what felt like another human body pillowing his head. A low groan sounded from the space behind his head, and reluctantly he pushed himself up onto his elbows.

"Mmff...morning," mumbled Heero sleepily.

Was /that/ whose chest Duo had been resting on? A blush suffused his face, but he smiled a good-morning greeting. "I don't remember falling asleep out here," he admitted.

Heero shrugged, pushing himself upright as well. "Neither do I, really, or I would have taken you back inside. My neck's stiff, how d'you feel?"

"A little sore," Duo conceded, rubbing at his neck. "I think you took the worst of it though."

"Hn," Heero muttered noncommittally, picking himself up off the balcony and stretching wiry limbs—a motion Duo couldn't resist watching through his bangs as he picked bits of fallen leaves out of his hair. 

"What time do you figure it is?"

Heero peered up at the sun, squinting. "Nine-thirty." Duo just started at him incredulously.

"Are you serious, or making that up?"

The faintest flicker of a smile crossed Heero's face, so quick and subtle it might only have been a fabrication of Duo's over-evolved imagination. "Of course I'm serious. Why would I make up what time it is? You'd only have to look at a watch to know I was wrong."

Duo made a face at him. "I'm hungry."

"Let's go to breakfast then." Heero ran a hand through his wild mop of dark-brown hair. It did absolutely nothing to tame it, but it gave him a fey aura, almost a surreal one—the delicate, fragile-

seeming, but incredibly strong body, the mess of hair that flew haphazardly from his face in all directions, the piercing, impossibly deep blue eyes. A memory of that moment, upon waking, when Duo realised he was snuggled against the other boy's chest brought another blush to his face, but if Heero saw it, he refrained from comment. Duo followed him back inside and through the labyrinth of hallways toward the dining room. 

"Stop." The voice, while commanding, barely reached his ears, a whisper carrying itself on the air to touch his ears. Duo turned, and Heero paused as well, as Sylvia slipped into the hall from behind them.

"I want to talk to you," she said softly.

Duo swallowed. "What about?"

Sylvia shrugged, noncommittal and indifferent. "I just want to know who you are. And show you something. Will you come see me after breakfast?"

Duo realised abruptly that he was afraid of the consequences should he refuse. "Sure. Where?"

Her head tilted. "The basement. I live there. Heero can show you." And then she was gone, faded into the corners and shadows as if she had never really been there.

Heero touched his elbow briefly, and Duo started as if he'd been shocked. The other boy smiled dryly. "Looks like we know what we're doing for the rest of the morning, then. Come on, let's get you fed."

Duo discovered he could barely keep his mind on a breakfast of pancakes and syrup, let alone on the chatter that flew round his head at the table. Catherine was entirely too solicitous, too, and every time he looked at her she met his gaze with a conspiratorial—and frighteningly predatory—smile. 

"What're you doing later?" Hilde asked, reaching across his plate for the syrup. "Practicing with Mr. Treize again?"

Duo shook his head. "He didn't tell us to. Anyway I ran into Sylvia in the hall, she wants me to come talk to her."

"In the basement?" Dorothy asked cautiously, and Duo nodded. "Oh, lucky you."

"Stop scaring him," Hilde told her crossly.

Dorothy shrugged. "I'm not scaring, I'm warning. Hell, that place scares me, and I've known her most of her life."

"Guys," said Duo, hinting, "you're not making me real comfortable here...."

"Don't worry," Heero told him, his voice low. "It's not that bad. Besides, I'm going with you."

It was more comforting to Duo than he thought it probably should have been. Nevertheless, he finished his breakfast and, when Heero had scraped the last bit of drying maple syrup from his plate, he stood. "Lead on, then. I don't know where I'm going."

"I know," said Heero, leading him away.

The basement that served as home to Sylvia Noventa was a truly terrifying place. Duo followed Heero down a flight of spiral stairs, twisted black metal tilting in unbalanced curves into the depths of the ancient school. Then a long hallway, barely lit by pale, flickering flourescant lights that did nothing to banish the shadows playing on the walls...and finally, a wooden door. 

Heero knocked.

It flew open. Sylvia stood in the doorway, her hand on the wooden frame, still dressed in the paint-spattered smock and wornout jeans that were her unofficial uniform. Her feet were bare, and her blonde hair twisted into a flyaway knot at the nape of her neck, secured there by a blue pencil stuck hastily into the tangles. Were it not for her surroundings, and the wild, lost look in her pale blue eyes, she would have looked no more frightening than any other reclusive artist.

  
"Come in," she said, stepping aside so they could enter. Heero passed her, and Duo followed—

His breath caught in his chest, his eyes widening in abject horror. Sylvia had decourated her den in a collage of murals, painted onto the walls in painful detail and larger-than-life aspect. And the images themselves were blood-chilling.

Pain seemed the primary theme through them all—but not simple, human pain that could have been endured. Even the most innocent of images—of which there were not many—was imbued with a sorrow so intense it bled from the walls, crying in tears of dried paint from the subjects of the nightmarish portraits.

The picture of himself, the one Dorothy had already told him of, was unfinished. As yet it was without background or detail—only an image of himself, dressed in black, with a silver cross dangling from his neck and a maniac gleam in eyes that he had never realised were so violet. Green energy, like that he'd been learning to call, pooled in his hands and formed into a scythe as tall as he himself. There was no target yet for his wrath, and no scene to form the background for it—it was all disconnected, even dreamlike, if a dream could raise the blood in his heart to boiling the way this portrait did.

Another painting caught his attention—the one next to his own. This was Heero, superimposed on a background of an angry red sky, the telltale shape of a mushroom cloud far in the distance. But it showed a different Heero than the one Duo had spend the night curled against—this one was naked, as frail and beautiful as he might have imagined the real one to be, but with his expression twisted into a despair more profound than anyone should ever be forced to know. White feathers floated around him, torn from the bleeding angel's wings spreading from his shoulders, and his hands and feet were dripping blood like the legend of the stigmata.

Beyond Heero was Dorothy, another painting entirely—kneeling in profile, her head thrown back in pain, her body stretched as her limbs disconnected from each other, joined only by thin bands of something that glinted like steel. Titanium bones protruded from torn parchment skin, and the top of her head fell back from the rest of her like a lid. Numbers swarmed from it like spectres, intent on escaping the confines of her brain—swirling around her, reflecting in her eyes as he mouth twisted into what could only have been a scream.

Then there was Wufei, hunched forward with his hands wrapped around the hilt of the sword that penetrated his gut and protruded angrily from his back. Blood dripped through his fingers and from the corner of his mouth, but his dark eyes blazed in feral, unforgiving fury, the entire sky behind him alight in flames.

There was Trowa, his body distended and distorted, limbs stretched far beyond even his capacity for flexibility. He was pinned through the shoulders and knees to a kaleidoscopic background of patchwork motley that made Duo's eyes spin, and he cradled his sister's body to his chest with painfully-stretched arms, blood dripping from his sorrowful green eyes like tears.

Near the painting of the twins knelt Quatre, wild-eyed, beaten to his knees, his naked body dark with bruises and crusted blood that caked his skin and matted his head to his skull. His wrists and feet were bound tight in tangled harp-strings, and sparkling trails of tears fell from his bowed head, his expression twisted with sorrow, betrayal, and simple physical pain far beyond the endurance of any single creature. The background to the segment was awash in blood-tinged water, deep red where it touched him til at last at the corners it ran clear.

There was Lady Une, her face split and divided into prismatic facets, none of them ever quite complete, each one missing something, her face dominated by the warring emotions of anger, fear, and desperate sadness.

There was Hilde, her body bent back at an unnatural angle, her belly impaled on a pole that jutted up from a ground strewn with the torn bodies of the fallen. Her eyes were closed, her fingers clenched, her face a mask of agony she refused to surrender to.

And finally Relena, naked as well and kneeling, facing outward, her hands cupped in front of her. Water poured in streams through her fingers, from her eyes, from the tips of her sodden hair. She was melting into the sea that comprised the background of the painting—her legs and the lower part of her body had already faded into transparent iridescence, her feet merged with the ocean til they had no more form.

Sylvia stood very still and quiet as Duo stared open-mouthed at them all. 

"What—what the hell /are/ these?" he demanded, breathy, when at last he could speak.

She shrugged. "Sometimes the past. Sometimes the future. Sometimes nothing more than a representation of what is already in one's heart."

"But—they're horrible!" Duo stammered, realising only too late how that could be taken badly by someone whose lack of sanity was not even in doubt.

She shrugged again, delicately. "They are unpleasant images. But they are truth, in their own way, and the truth is seldom, if ever, agreeable."

"Then what do they mean?" Duo demanded, capturing her eyes. She met his gaze squarely, her expression blank. 

"Do you really imagine that I know?" she asked him plainly.

"Then why paint them?" he continued, forcing the issue. "Why make them at all? They scare the shit out of me, don't they do the same to you? I assume you don't just make them up, that they appear to you or something—"

"And that," Sylvia interrupted, "is exactly why. Do you think I would have any rest from them if I ignored them?"

Duo sighed, defeated. "I suppose not."

"Sylvia." Heero said softly, and Duo's gaze swung toward him—til now he had been silent, observing the braided boy from a shadowy corner, his back to the painting of himself that he preferred not to see. "Is this why you wanted Duo to come down here, or did you want something else?"

"There is more," Sylvia confirmed, fumbling in her back jeans pocket until she retrieved a paintbrush and crossing to stand in front of Duo, her upturned gaze appraising him frankly. "Take off your shirt."

"What?" slipped from Duo's lips before his mind had even registered it.

She sighed tightly. "Take off your shirt."

Every braincell in Duo's skull rebelled at the idea. Not that baring his chest, in itself, was the sort of thing that bothered him, especially with Heero still watching him from the corner—wait, where did /that/ thought come from?—but letting this strange self-proclaimed Oracle anywhere near his unprotected body did not exactly leave him with a sense of comfort. He shot a quick look at Heero, but the other boy seemed as mystified as he. "Oh, all right," he agreed finally, overriding the rational parts of his brain and tugging his t-shirt off over his head.

Something thick and wet brushed across his chest, and he looked down. It was a curve of violet paint—Sylvia had wasted no time after his capitulation, and dipped her brush in one of the nearby pots to swirl it over his skin. Another line, added to the first—then another, til the brush no longer tickled and the paint was almost dry. He watched her moves, her graceful fingers flicking across his chest with an almost protective air.

"What is it?" he asked, when she was finished and stepped away. It was a design, perhaps something ancient, perhaps something of her own creation, a collection of swirls and lines forming an elabourate pattern across his pectorals. 

"A charm," she answered with another of her delicate shrugs. "You're going to need it."

It was not the most comforting thing Duo had ever heard.

The girl smiled up at him warmly—the first time, he realised, that he had ever seen her smile. "Be sure to tell me when it wears off," she warned him—the smile, which had been comforting, faded as she seized his hand. "Your coming precedes a darker one," she warned, suddenly serious. "You are the final piece in a puzzle, but once it is completed, the true test begins. I promise, I will help you however I can." 

She dropped his hand, and Duo, stricken, found himself searching for Heero over Sylvia's head.

"That's enough," the boy's soft voice said firmly, slipping from the shadows and resting a hand on the oracle's shoulder. "We appreciate it, Sylvia. Now you've scared the wits out of Duo enough for one day."

She smiled, apologetic. "I'm sorry."

"No problem," Duo promised her, pulling on his shirt. Relief flooded him as Heero took his arm gently to lead him away.

They climbed back up the stairs in companionable silence, the dried paint on Duo's chest feeling scratchy and odd. Wufei met them as they emerged from the stairwell, his eyes troubled.

"Meeting," he informed them tersely. "Dorothy's room, right away. We have a bit of a problem."


	7. Something Rotten

NIOBE'S VIOLETS

by Ashura

DEDICATION: For Dan, for his 1x2 School fic contest

DISCLAIMERS: The usual. I don't own any of the characters, names or places from GW, I've just warped them. 

WARNINGS: Yaoi (3x4, 1x2), Yuri (HxC, RxD) 

AUTHOR'S NOTES: AU, Humour, Drama. Contrary to what you may think, the inspiration for this actually came from watching "Real Genius" for the millionth time, but influences include the X-Men, Harry Potter, Escaflowne, the Young Ones, and the Heralds of Valdemar. The title...well, that should be explained later.

*************

Chapter Seven

*************

The mood was sombre as the students gathered in Dorothy's elegant bedroom once more. Wufei motioned for Heero and Duo to precede him through the door, and called out, "I found them," as he followed them inside.

Dorothy waved the trio in and directed them toward a clear space at the end of her bed. "Have a seat."

"Bad news?" Heero asked, perching birdlike at the foot of the blonde girl's bed as Duo settled next to him.

She nodded, and without further preamble explained simply, "Romafeller says they're going to shut down the school."

Hilde slammed her hand onto the floor in frustration. "Why? They're the ones that /started/ this place, I thought we were one of their pet projects!"

Dorothy smiled grimly. "We were. Now we're getting 'out of hand.' Which is to say, they had plans for us that Mr. Treize flatly refuses to go along with, so they don't think they need us around anymore. Or at least not around with /him/. I know for certain that at least Trowa, Quatre and I will be receiving separate offers from Romafeller about the time they close us down. Apparently they still have 'uses' for us."

Quatre grimaced. "That sounds promising. A hacker, a siren, and a doppelganger they want to keep around."

"It's not real likely they're like taking 'no' for an answer, either," Relena noted. "You'd have to hide really well."

"Not if we keep them from closing down the school," Quatre countered, his voice flat.

Dorothy nodded her agreement. "Which is why we're all here, of course. I for one don't want to let them close us down, and I definitely don't want to work for them!" She tossed her long hair defiantly, her eyes flashing. "And I think they're after more than Quatre's Talent, when they want him in their pocket. They try to be sneaky, but they're not /that/ good."

Relena twisted to face Dorothy from where she curled on the floor at her lover's feet, and rested her cheek against the taller girl's leg. "What's the special project they want us for?" she asked, putting voice to the question in all of their minds.

Dorothy frowned. "You're not going to like it."

Relena rolled her eyes. "Of course I'm not, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't know what it is."

"I imagine they want us to be a weapon," Heero interjected. "And use Dorothy and Trowa as intelligence agents." His deep blue eyes flickered to the girl at the other end of the bed. "Am I right?"

Dorothy nodded. "That's right. It's not hard to see how most of us could be used to their advantage, to secure their power base."

"But what about Mr. Treize?" asked Catherine, shifting uncomfortable on the floor. "Aren't they worried that he's not going to let them just come in and take everything he's worked for away?"

Dorothy's frown deepened. "Either they don't see him as much of a threat--in which case, the more fool them--or they've got something planned to take him out of the way already." She spread her fingers tensely, pressing them into her knees. "I have a feeling it's the latter. Even Romafeller has to understand how powerful Mr. Treize is."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Quatre admitted softly.

"They'll have to get past Une first," Catherine offered consolingly. "Not to mention Zechs and Miss Noin."

Hilde shook her head slightly. "And I'm sure they've thought of that. If they've got plans for Treize, they've figured out a way around the rest of them." Her blue eyes lit with a wicked gleam, and she added, "Except perhaps us."

"If they can take out Treize, they'll have little trouble with us," Wufei interrupted calmly. "Much as I hate to resort to such, it seems deception may be our best course of action."

Trowa, who didn't seem to share the firestarter's distaste for subterfuge, nodded. "Let them believe we know nothing. If they contact you, be reluctant but give in as if you see you have no choice."

"There's one other thing," said Dorothy, before the discussion of actual tactics could progress too far. "According to the files I snuck into, they don't know about Duo yet."

The long-haired boy felt every eye in the room focused on him, and part of him wanted to shrink into Dorothy's delicately-embroidered blankets away from their gaze. But he didn't. "Guess I'll be your secret weapon, then," he said with a shrug. "If we can figure out how to aim and fire me."

"We can," said Quatre, almost wearily. "And if it comes down to it...we will."

********

"Hey, Duo, wait up!" Hilde pelted down the hallway after him, finally grabbing his arm to stop her headlong flight as she caught up. "I'll walk up to our hall with you. What've you got planned now?"

"Nothing, really," he answered with a shrug. "Hang around in my room until dinnertime?"

She wrinkled her nose at him. "We just had lunch! What do you do, measure your existence in mealtimes?"

He made a face at her right back. "If I did, I don't think I'd be more than eight years old," he reminded her dryly. "I just don't have anything else I really need to do at the moment. You can come do nothing with me, if you want."

Hilde just flashed him her trademark impish grin. "I think I will." 

They ended up spending the afternoon lounging around in Duo's room--well, Duo was lounging, sprawled out on his bed with a series of comic books Quatre had lent him. He hadn't realised just what sort of comics they were, but since everyone had witnessed the handoff, he was determined to read them without blushing. Hilde, meanwhile, stole occasionally glances over his shoulder with questions like "Is that even physically /possible/?" while trying to rearrange his meagre decourations to something that better suited her taste.

"Will you knock it off?" he asked, tossing his pillow at her as she moved--for the fourth time--the Star Blazers poster Catherine had donated to his otherwise virtually empty room. She thwapped him over the head with it and plopped down onto the edge of his bed.

"Why? Am I distracting you?" She leaned over, peering over his shoulder at the comic. "Holy--Duo, what's that they're /doing/? You said /Quatre/ gave you this?"

Despite his earlier determination, Duo felt colour flooding his cheeks. "Yeah. He said he thought I'd like them. I think he's secretly very bitter that I accidentally threw him into the wall, and this is his revenge."

Hilde giggled. "He's a wicked little creature, isn't he? And he always looks so damn innocent. I wonder if he's tried any of this personally...."

"Hilde!" Duo flipped the comic closed and buried his head under the pillow. "I'm not listening to you."

There was no apology in her gaze or her voice as she yanked the pillow away. "Aw, come on...aren't you even the littlest bit curious either?" She made a grab for the comic in question and flipped through til her blue eyes widened--and so did her grin. "Look here," she directed, shoving the page in front of Duo's eyes. "I don't think real men can even /do/ that. Do you? Or more importantly," she added, her eyes taking on a wicked gleam that made Duo wonder if he could make it to the door in one piece before she could catch him, "/can/ you? Shall we find out?"

Duo let out a yelp and curled as tight as he could around himself, flailing arms fumbling for the pillow again. "Eep! No, I can't! At least, I'm pretty sure I can't--I'm not about to try--ACK! HELP!" He finished in an extremely undignified scream as his pillow-shield was yanked away again and used to beat him soundly over the head. The part of his brain that was still functioning in something besides self-defense suggested that at the next opportunity, he ask Iria Winner for another pillow. He was fairly certain Hilde wasn't serious in her proposition, especially judging from the fact that though she now had him almost entirely at her mercy, she was more intent on ferreting out all his ticklish spots, and beating him into submission with a feather pillow, than on seducing him. 

Which was probably for the best, since he still had a too-vivid image of her tangled up with Catherine firmly imprinted on his brain.

Besides, some of the pictures /had/ been...interesting. 

"Duo, are you okay in the--Hilde? What are you doing to Duo?" The girl rocked off him, and Duo struggled up onto his elbows to see Heero staring at them from the doorway.

"Nothing," Hilde protested defensively, before her eyes darkened evilly. "Just having a bit of a debate, that's all. I don't think this position is physically possible-do you?" she asked, sliding off the bed and skipping to the door with the picture in question held out toward him. "D'you think Duo could do it?"

Heero actually backed up a step, his face bright crimson. "Na--nani??" he stuttered, forgetting in his surprise that neither of the room's occupants understood Japanese. 

"I have an idea! Heero, c'mere, we'll test it out and see--"

She didn't even get a chance to finish her sentence. Heero fled.

Hilde tossed herself onto Duo's bed with a disappointed sigh. "Well--bugger!"

Duo whimpered.

*********

He lay in bed, wrapped in the soft comfort of his new down quilt, staring into the darkness that enveloped his room. The afternoon had been spent idly, especially considering the crisis the school and students had found themselves embroiled in. But when he'd asked, Dorothy and Quatre had told him there was nothing he could do. And, he noted grumpily, they were right. 

Dorothy was hacking the Romafeller foundation. It was fascinating to watch--he'd never seen he manifest her talent before, and he was impressed. She had a laptop computer stored under her bed that apparently needed no battery, or power source, or phone connection. She had only to touch it--a faint blue spark of electricity shot from her fingers, and it buzzed to life. She rested her hands on the keys, and closed her eyes, and coded data began scrolling across the screen at speeds he couldn't even manage to read.

Quatre had gone to get in touch with Iria, and taken Trowa with him. This was a talent Duo finally had a chance to witness as well--with brief concentration, the doppelganger's skin had stretched, his vivid green eyes darkened and changed colour, his hair had fallen and shifted as well, and he had taken the form of a tall Arabic man Quatre said was in his family's employ. 

Duo decided he didn't understand Quatre, who had given him homosexual comic books without warning him, and expected him to read them while the rest of the school was working on infiltrating the enemy. But then, he was the one crowned King of the World--apparently he had a fair grasp of strategy. Duo certainly felt out of his depth, and it was generally easier just to go along with the Siren than attempt to dissuade him.

Besides, he wasn't the /only/ one not doing anything. Heero, Relena and Hilde were all at loose ends as well--which meant he was Hilde's main form of entertainment, which while it was nice to have friends, was downright exhausting. And Heero had staunchly avoided them both ever since the afternoon, with Hilde and the comic books....

Dammit, Duo thought, feeling his cheeks flush again, /was/ that physically possible or not? And now that Hilde was gone, he could freely admit to himself that he /did/ wonder if Quatre and Trowa had tried it--

This was getting him nowhere. He had class in the morning, and he didn't want to miss breakfast again.

But still, it wasn't every night a fellow had to come to terms with the fact he was probably gay, was it? Let alone that he was developing a distinct fixation on a certain elfin mutant with deep blue eyes?

In retrospect, he realised, that could very well have been Quatre's reasoning for lending him the books. Heero had explained that the Siren could sense emotions as well as manipulate them, and they had been working rather intensely together the past two days. Maybe it was just his way of getting Duo do come to terms with things before the shit really hit the fan.

Maybe he was thinking too hard.

But he couldn't help it. Attempts at sleep were met by the agonisingly distorted images of Sylvia's murals, where the images of his newfound friends writhed in pain and cried his name. He was set free from their morbid embrace only by the distraction of a faint burning on his chest, and when he rubbed at it, he felt the crisp shell of violet paint the artist-oracle had left there.

For some reason, none of it ever flaked off on his fingers. Despite the texture of it against his skin, it looked more like a birthmark, or maybe a tattoo, than paint. It was a complicated knot, and when he tried to trace the design with his fingertips, he invariably lost his way.

//Sleep.// It was no more than a whisper--but no, it wasn't even that. It was an echo inside his head, insinuating itself through his being. //Rest now.// Infinitely compelling, it caressed his mind like a dream. 

And Duo, already exhausted, succumbed to it.

*********** 


	8. Through Nature to Eternity

NIOBE'S VIOLETS

by Ashura

DEDICATION: For Dan, for his 1x2 School fic contest

DISCLAIMERS: The usual. I don't own any of the characters, names or places from GW, I've just warped them. 

WARNINGS: Yaoi (3x4, 1x2), Yuri (HxC, RxD) 

ARCHIVE: Desolation Angels (http://www.dreamwater.net/ashura)

AUTHOR'S NOTES: AU, Humour, Drama. Contrary to what you may think, the inspiration for this actually came from watching "Real Genius" for the millionth time, but influences include the X-Men, Harry Potter, Escaflowne, the Young Ones, the Heralds of Valdemar, HF's fic "The Silence God," Neon Genesis Evangelion, and my friends' old Shadowrun game. The title...well, that should be explained later.

*********** 

Chapter Eight

***********

Duo awoke to someone shaking him--Hilde had let herself in again. "Wake up--you're going to miss breakfast again, and I don't want to come all the way back up the stairs to get you--come on, wake up!"

"Wha--okay, okay, Hilde, I'm awake." By the time he rolled out of his bed and untangled his legs from the duvet, she was already shoving clothes at him. He noted idly that her actions should have irritated him, but never in his sixteen-year-long life had he ever found anyone so willing to take care of him as Hilde--at least in the little, day to day things, like making sure he got breakfast and was wearing clean clothes. It warmed him, though he would never have admitted it to her.

He tugged on the t-shirt and jeans she threw at him, tying his hair back in a hasty tail at the nape of his neck. He raced after her down the hall as she tugged him along behind her, his untied bootlaces flapping around his ankles.

Lady Une had her hair down, and Duo let out a sigh of relief. She hadn't worn her glasses since the first day he'd met her, and he'd decided that in what the rest of the students termed her "Saint Une" personality, he actually liked her. She was sweet, and she brought him chocolate bars when he and Quatre were working with Treize and their energy started to flag.

She was still lecturing to them on wish manifestation, but Duo realised that he was far closer to understanding it than he'd been previously--perhaps it was the atmosphere of the school, where such things were taking as routine, that made his mind so quick to accept. 

"Everything is made of energy," she explained, her soft eyes flickering around the room. "Everything. It's all the same stuff--and energy can never be created or destroyed, it can only change form. Organic matter, unalive things, the air you breathe, the chemicals that make you up--all of it is formed of the same substance. So is your will, your drive, the power of your mind. So it is not such a hard thing to work together with the energy around you and make things happen."

She smiled gently. "But the universe is greater than you are--than we all are, even joined together. It is greater, it is older, and it is far, far wiser. Never seek to control it, because you will fail. Only ask it...work in partnership with it. Small influences can set the streams of time and space in motion and make your heart's desire into reality. See that you never misuse it."

Duo found himself nodding solemnly in response, even though the directive was not for him alone. Une smiled at him warmly, and clasped her hands in front of her. "That's all for today. No out-of-class work, because you all have projects you're working on already."

"Hmm...she doesn't look too worried," Hilde noted worriedly under her breath as they filed out of the classroom. "With Romafeller wanting to shut us down, you'd think she'd be stressed. I was surprised she was in Saint mode today."

"Probably Mr. Treize hasn't told her," Heero suggested. "I expect he knows what it would do to her as well as we do."

Relena nodded. "He's probably saving it til after he has a plan of some kind. Then he can just explain things in that calm way he has, and tell her what she needs to do."

"One problem with that," Quatre joined in, catching up to them in the hall on the way to Zechs' garden. "Lady Une is Mr. Treize's tactician. He needs her to help him /make/ the plan."

"Really?" Hilde and Heero looked at Quatre, startled, and the Siren nodded.

"Treize Khushrenada is an incredible force to be reckoned with, and he has grand ideas. But he leaves the implementing of them to Lady Une." He broke off his explanation to wave eagerly to Trowa and Catherine, padding across the grass toward them in perfect synchronisation. He continued, then, as the twins hurried closer. "Anyway, Wufei and I had him this morning. He's still working things out in his head. Determining where all the pieces are, and where they're likely to fall."

"What did your sister say when you saw her?" Relena asked.

Quatre shrugged--not promising, but neither was it problematic. "She'll do what she can. We still own enough of it to stall them, but all they really have to do is find something to get us investigated for and it'll bog her down too. Besides--" he faltered, but by then the twins had reached them, and Trowa spoke up to finish his sentence.

"All Romafeller really has to do," the tall doppelganger explained, "is leak us to the media. If they force us into the public eye--well, you know how most people will feel about us. They'll have no problem closing the place down, and we'll end up in Romafeller's hands anyway under the pretense of 'research.'"

Relena nodded. "After all," she spat bitterly, "our own families don't want to be reminded we exist, the rest of the world certainly doesn't want anything to do with us."

"It'd be like the first Newtypes," Hilde agreed. "Poking and prodding at us--/analysing/ us--"

"And it didn't get any better for /them/," Duo agreed, remembering how violently he'd protested to Iria in the hospital that he was not one of the biotechnological creatures. The original products of advances in metaneurological and g-nome research, the Newtypes had first been hailed as the "new breed of human."

Then the old breed of human had remembered how it disliked to feel threatened. GeneTech, the company responsible for the Newtypes, had been burnt to the ground in a confrontation with its own creations--Duo had been very young at the time, staying in a shelter for homeless children run by a Catholic nun and priest. He remembered overhearing them say what a shame it was, that someone would create children in such a fashion and then refuse to let them lead normal lives. The one they were speaking of was only twelve at the time. It was an androgyne, a word Duo hadn't learned til long after, but it could lift cars and huge machines with its mind, shoot lightning out of its fingers, and, according to a gang of older kids who claimed to have met it while it was hiding on the street, could control your mind and make you do things. Duo had never known how much to believe, but thinking back on it gave him an entirely new perspective and sympathy for the creature. Nicknamed Andy, it had finally taken one of the other Newtype children, its 'little sister' Leia, burnt GeneTech to the ground, vanished completely. 

There had been others, though not so well-known, and they were treated with curious suspicion at best, outright hatred at worst. They had all been registered at their creation, and the governments of the world had taken care to keep track of them, and monitor their movements. 

Imagining that happening to himself and his friends, Duo suppressed a shudder.

"It'll be all right." Heero's voice in his ear was almost too low to be heard, barely a vibration of tones in the back of his mind and warmth on his skin. He forced himself to nod, and the other boy rested a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Come on," Heero said dryly. "Let's go try and talk to some plants. Worry about Romafeller later."

"Good idea," interjected Zechs Merquise, attracting their attention immediately to where the shaman stood gracefully against the branch of the willow whose slender fingers draped into the pond. He projected calm, and peace, the way only a true child of nature can--the sort of peace of a universe that continues the endless circle of death and birth and life completely independent of the actions of humans. "I think I'd like you to start with this one."

"The tree?" Catherine asked incredulously. "We haven't even gotten feelings out of flowers yet."

Zechs smiled reassuringly. "I know. But trees are older than flowers, and some of them--like this one--have greater minds. I think if one of you asks her properly, she'll tell you a story."

The students looked at the tree, at their teacher, and finally at each other, skepticism on their faces.

"What, no-one cares to try?" Zechs sounded disappointed. 

Quatre stepped forward, almost nervously. "I suppose I will."

"That's cheating," Catherine grumbled good-naturedly.

He made a face at her over his shoulder. "Fine, you do it then."

"Oh, no." She waved her hand in dismissal, the corners of her lips quirking upward. "I just move things around. I'll leave it to you to get stories out of trees."

Quatre shrugged. "All right."

Over the past few days, Duo thought he had gotten used to hearing Quatre sing. From the ecstatic brilliance of the talent show, to the unconquerable terror of their practice the last few days, he thought he had begun to build up an immunity.

He realised, glancing at his enraptured classmates before the song swallowed him utterly, that none of them had.

Because it wasn't just Quatre singing this time. The Siren had pressed his hands to the trunk of the willow, and whatever sound it was leaving the boy's lips was coming from the tree as well--it was as old as life, intensely sorrowful, and infinitely eternal. It was profound and heartbreaking loss, staggering grief that resisted all healing--but hidden deep was a core of hope, as well, of knowledge of some rapturous cosmic truth that if discovered would make an Eden of their hearts.

And then it was gone. The students blinked vaguely out of their trance, and Quatre slumped against the tree trunk as if he couldn't bear to let it go. " Was that right?"

Zechs hastily dragged a tattooed arm across his eyes, where tears like dewdrops had glistened mere moments before. "I've never seen it done quite that way before, but--yes."

*************

The rest of the day went much the same--Duo learned things he'd never dreamed of, and each time he did, his desire to understand grew. He was a little disappointed when Miss Noin took over the Philosophy class and sent him to meet Treize and Quatre for yet more practice. Trowa was extremely irritated that she didn't excuse him to go as well.

But by some miracle he couldn't explain even to himself, Duo wasn't as afraid of hurting him this time. Somewhere, something inside had clicked, and he could feel the Power in his veins even when he wasn't using it--he was more confident than he'd ever been that he could channel it at will, make it answer his demands.

Or rather, his requests. "Work in partnership," Lady Une had explained, and it made sense to him, under his skin, in an intuitive way that had nothing to do with explanations or words. 

"I want to try it on my own," he heard himself say. "Without Quatre frightening me."

Treize nodded, surprised but pleased. "Proceed."

Duo closed his eyes, willing the power into his hands--harder, harder! He gathered it, but that was all, and it clogged at his wrists as if he couldn't quite manage to--

"You're forcing it too hard," Treize said gently. "Duo, relax."

"I'd like to try something," said Quatre. "Something besides scaring him." 

Without waiting for approval or answer he began to hum--unobtrusive, insinuating, nothing like the grand shows he'd given before. At first, Duo hardly noticed. He was concentrating on Treize' words, his urgings to relax and let the Power flow through his body.

But slowly, the tune began to grow inside him, twining with the Power and merging with it, washing through him, bringing every cell in his body gloriously, ecstatically to life. Duo melted into the flow of green, coursing within him like the blood of his life.

Feel it.

Become it.

Everything is one. You are me, I am you, we are us and everything. This is you. 

Don't fight it. Don't fight yourself.

Work together with it. Work together with me. 

We are one.

And we are eternal.

The sheer intensity of the /joy/ that poured through him was blinding--but he didn't need to see, he could /feel/, he was part of everything, he was the entire omnipotent Universe and everything in the world was part of him. The painted mark on his chest blazed to brilliant life...vivid green light pooled in his upturned palms, dripping through his fingers to vanish into the carpeting on Treize' office floor. He was never quite sure if Quatre's hand was really touching his shoulder, or when the Siren had ceased to sing, or how long any of it had been.

He knew only that when the feeling faded and he solidified into himself, that he was exhausted.

And grinning.

************

"I'm telling you," Quatre told Wufei firmly as a salad-bowl soared over their heads across the dinner table, "he's got the hang of it now. Don't you, Duo? So stop worrying and make yourself useful."

The firestarter grumbled. "Because of course I've been indulging in parlour tricks all this time? When you have a better idea, Winner, I suggest you share it with the rest of us."

Quatre remained undaunted--in fact, he shot Duo a grin and a wink from his end of the table. "When I do, I will," he assured. "What's Dorothy got for us?"

The blonde girl shrugged, stalling for time til she could finish the bite she was chewing. "Names of the people on the committee responsible for getting us closed down," she answered, almost smugly. "Of course, that wasn't too hard. One of them is my grandfather, after all."

Relena frowned. "That settles it, then, doesn't it? They do want to make a weapon out of us."

Dorothy winked at her girlfriend playfully. "That's right, waterbaby. That's the other little present I thought I'd bring you all." Fumbling for a moment in her bookbag, she deposited a stack of papers on the table. "Presenting the Romafeller Foundation's plans for all of you. Care to see?"

A flurry of suspiciously-caused wind caught the stapled collections, and dropped one neatly in front of each student. Duo mumbled "Thank you, Cathy," along with the rest of them and picked up his copy

"01-Darlien, R: useful in salvage operations and placement of underwater weaponry," Relena read aloud, growling. "In other words, find them sunken treasure and hide their damn mines."

"Mine's no better," Trowa said softly. "'Espionage and undercover operations, replacement tactics,' it says."

"That means," Dorothy informed him succinctly, "that they want you to off the leaders of the competition and take their place until they can find a way for 'em to legitimately turn up dead."

Trowa met her eyes. "So I gathered." He glanced back at the photocopied page. "And you're espionage as well, of course."

She nodded. "Codebreaker. And Quatre they discreetly refer to as 'diplomatic relations.'"

"They don't classify Heero," Catherine remarked suddenly. "Or Sylvia, or Hilde."

"Yes they do," Dorothy said, suddenly sounding troubled. "Down at the bottom. Research and development."

"Doesn't that mean--" Cathy began, and Heero interrupted her.

"Yes, Cathy. It means they want to cut us apart and see what makes us tick." He sighed, pushing his plate away and climbing off the bench. 

"Where are you going?" the knife-thrower asked, sliding a protective arm around her girlfriend, even though cutting Hilde open seemed like a profound waste of a scientist's time. 

"Just got some things to think about," he answered, shouldering his bag and vanishing down the hall without further explanation.

Hilde shrugged. "I don't blame him. It's been a long day anyway, and I still have a project to work on for Sally that I promised a week ago. You want to head upstairs, Duo? You look like you're about to fall asleep in your soup."

Quatre chuckled. "He had an even longer day than the rest of us." He was interrupted by a yawn, then, and corrected himself: "Except maybe me, and I still have work to do too. Trowa...?"

"I'll help," the taller boy promised, as they departed as well--this time, Duo suspected from their expressions, they actually did plan to study.

Duo was, he admitted, tired. The session with Quatre and Treize had worn him through, exhausted him, but had invigourated him at the same time. So as tired as he was, it wasn't a /sleepy/ sort of tired, and he needed to wind down before he could even consider relaxing.

It made sense to go for a walk. He supposed, if he were trying to justify it, that it made sense too for him to find himself on the balcony where only two nights before he'd met Heero. //Hoping he'll be here again?// he asked himself, and wasn't at all surprised by his answer. //Yes...yes I am, a bit.//

"I wondered if you'd find your way out here." It was the only indication that the boy sitting on the balcony railing dangling his feet over the edge even realised Duo was there, let alone had been waiting for him.

"Is that all right?" Duo asked tentatively, his heart pounding behind the sign still warm on his chest.

Heero /did/ turn to look at him at that, his deep blue eyes dark and bottomless. "Of course it is." He swung around on the railing, alighting on the balcony floor with an angel's grace. "Come here."

Duo, curious, stepped forward, a thrill shooting through his over-sensitised body as the other boy caught his hand. "You're worried," Heero said simply. 

Duo found himself nodding. "Aren't you?"

No motion--only the breeze lifting strands of Heero's wild hair. "There are too many factors to consider," he said gravely. "More than any of us or even Trieze and Romafeller are counting on."

"What do you mean?" Even with his newfound enlightenment, Duo realised he didn't completely understand. 

And if Heero did, still he struggled to find the words to form it. "There's something more mixed up in all this, that's all. Fate, or something--whatever it is that brings all the cycles back around to the beginning again. Sometimes I think the only one who notices is Sylvia, but--oh, Duo, can't you feel it? It's like it's alive, inside all of us."

//Feel it.//

//Become it.//

//We are one. And we are eternal.//

"I--I think so--" Duo stammered. In truth he wasn't sure if the 'life' Heero was describing was really some cosmic force or merely their own proximity, the slightly-sweaty softness of their fingers entwined, the rapid pounding of his heart in rhythm with Heero's pulse against his wrist.

"Do you?" Heero asked, breathlessly, hopefully.

"I think so," Duo repeated, stumbling as the other boy pulled him close in desperate joy, delight at sharing even the possibility of understanding. He fell into Heero's arms, and at that abrupt touch he was sure he /did/ see, even if it was gone in the flash of awareness that his own body brought him back to.

"Duo--"

"Heero--"

Neither was ever completely sure who initiated the kiss, whose lips first sought out the other's from their awkward twining. They only knew that they both wanted it, desperately, and whatever Fate was alive and taking interest in their affairs had grown tired of waiting for them to acknowledge their desire on their own.

Heero's fingers caressed Duo's neck, slipped up into his hair, easing the mass of chestnut from its matted tail. "So beautiful," he murmured against Duo's lips, and received another kiss in return as the long-haired boy's own slender hands reached up to cup his face.

"...Take off your shirt," Heero whispered, his lips blazing up the length of Duo's neck, eliciting a soft whine of absolute pleasure. Duo nodded, too lost in the sensations drowning him to speak--every touch, every emotion an entirely new experience, and he could no longer even be sure his feet were still planted on the ground. He fumbled with the hem of his t-shirt, pulling it over his head to bare his smooth chest and the intricate violet knot inked onto his skin. Heero's hands slid down his sides as he dropped to his knees--delicate fingers traced the painted lines, and Duo's head fell back, his knuckles clenching, fingers grasping for purchase in Heero's cotton-clad shoulders. The mark was still warm, it had been all evening, and while Heero's touch was cool against it, it set his decourated skin ablaze. The dark head bent closer--utterly lost in the moment, his lips pressed to Duo's chest, his tongue flicking along the lines and planes of the street-boy's undernourished body, tasting the faintly acrid flavour of the paint on his skin. Warmth leaked from Duo's chest to Heero's lips, flooded through them both, wrapped them in the sensation of a tangible moment--

//Feel it.//

//Become it.//

//We are one.//

//And we are eternal.//

Duo sunk to his knees, facing Heero, claiming his lips with pleading urgency. They remained their, enrapt in one another, til Duo's hands slipped beneath Heero's shirt, questing, tugging at the hem. Heero caught his hands--gently, almost reluctantly, lifting them away.

"Duo...don't."

Violet eyes opened wide, and he saw Heero wince at the hurt he was sure reflected in them. As if to make amends for stopping him, he pressed a gentler kiss to Duo's swollen lips. 

"I'm sorry...please. Not now. Not yet."

"But you--"

"You'll understand, later. I promise."

Duo nodded wordlessly. He didn't understand, not yet, but he still felt flooded with the newness of experience, the trail of paint and kisses emblazoned on his body, and the softness of Heero's lips. He recognised the reluctance in Heero's blue eyes, and could not fault it--and if Heero said he would come to understand, well, then Duo would trust him.

How natural that trust seemed.


	9. To Some Great Amiss

***********

Chapter Nine

***********

Duo was crying. Huddled in a darkened corner of a ramshackle one-room hut that looked barely a breath from collapsing, he curled around himself and buried his face in his knees, sobbing.

"Ssh--don't cry, it's all right--" Heero was kneeling next to him on the dirt floor, holding Duo protectively against his chest. "I won't let anyone hurt you."

But Duo knew--though he wasn't certain how--that whatever 'they' wanted, they wanted it from Heero. They weren't after him. They wanted to take his Heero away from him--wasn't that what they had threatened? To separate them forever?

The thick hot stench of smoke was filling his nose and lungs--it was so hard to breathe. Heero coughed, spitting black ash from his throat onto the floor. "I won't leave you," he promised softly.

"I love you," Duo whispered. It was too hard to speak, too hard to breathe, too hard to see. Just feel--so warm, and the air so thick, and Heero holding onto him. "Promise you'll come back for me?"

"I'll find you," Heero pledged softly. "No matter what it takes. I love you too, you know...."

Duo's head was too thick to lift. He couldn't breathe, but that was all right--so warm, and Heero was there, and he was just going to fall asleep.....

There was someone watching him when he awoke. 

His head was buried under the airy weight of Eiderdown, his pillow rumpled under his cheek, and even when his eyes peeked out from the folds of duvet it was too dark to see--but he could feel the gaze, heavy, pressing against him.

"Heero?" he asked, wondering, if it was his--was he allowed to call him 'boyfriend' now or not?--who was watching him, as he hoped, why he didn't lie down next to him and cuddle. If it was Hilde, she wouldn't just be watching, she'd have woken him by now.

"He went to bed," a familiar breathy mezzo answered softly. "What were you dreaming about?"

Duo's head emerged from beneath the swath of quilt, his face propped on his arms as he rubbed at his eyes and reached up to flick on the lamp on his bedside table. "Sylvia? What are you doing in my room?"

She smiled gently. "Watching you dream. Answering your questions."

Duo stared at her for the space of several heartbeats before he slumped back into the bed. "Heero," he answered after a moment. "I was dreaming about Heero. We were stuck in a burning building, or something--I'm not sure why we couldn't just leave, but we didn't."

"Because there were people waiting outside," Sylvia inserted softly. "The fire was just to flush you out, like sending a dog into the grass after a bird to frighten it into flying so you can shoot it. But you didn't leave," she finished, her low voice infinitely sad.

Duo blinked. "How are you telling me about things in /my/ dre--wait a minute. No." His body re-adjusted itself in the bed, his dark violet eyes staring at the painter in disbelief. "You're gonna tell me this is some freaky past-life shit or something, aren't you? That Heero and I really died in that fire and I'm just now remembering it, or something."

"They had already gotten ahold of Wufei," Sylvia continued, as if his outburst had never been. "His name wasn't Wufei then--it was Diwu, which is almost the same. It took almost a year, but they finally broke his mind...once they could control him, they made him start the fire that killed you. He killed himself afterward, you know. He swore that the next time, he would never be so weak."

Duo wanted to protest again, to shout until he drowned out her voice, or just force her to admit she was talking nonsense and would just go away. But he couldn't--despite his outburst, he felt the thread of truth insinuating itself through his thoughts, probing his memories. //It feels right. Oh God, what if she's right?//

"Do the others know?" he heard himself asking. 

She shook her head, twining a strand of blonde around one finger when it fell from her makeshift chignon. "Only Heero and Wufei. And now you. Sometimes I think Quatre suspects, but pushes the memories back because he no longer wants them."

"Then why are you telling me?" It was hard to keep the bitterness from his voice as he asked, and he wasn't certain he wanted to. "Don't you think I'd be happier not knowing as well?"

Sylvia slipped off the desk where she'd been perched, padding soundlessly to the edge of his bed. "I wish I didn't have to," she whispered, so softly it was hard to tell if she had spoken aloud or in his mind. "You don't know how I wish I didn't. But you're the key to it all. You're the reason any of us came back--Heero came for you, and he called us, even if he doesn't realise it. You are the catalyst, the agent that binds us together."

She let out her breath like a sigh, and Duo just watched her in silence as she twisted her hands before her.

"Here," she said finally, thrusting one of them out toward him. He wasn't sure how he hadn't noticed the flower before--just a soft stiff little plant, jutting from her fingers to point at him. "I've been saving this for you. It's to go with the violets."

He took it from her, staring at it, waiting for her to explain.

"It's rosemary."

The explanation was hardly enough for Duo, but no other seemed forthcoming, so he took a closer look at it instead. Its leaves were stiff, its stem rough--it wasn't a pretty plant, so there must be some other reason--but no, he'd held this before. He couldn't quite put his finger on just when, but he knew he had touched it. 

"Out in front of the hut was a garden," he said slowly, without even realising he was speaking aloud. "It was an herb garden, and I used to play in it--they told me not to, but everything smelled nice. I remember hearing my mother call me out of it--'Bin, you'll get dirty, go help your sister....' And then--" He broke off, tearing his gaze from the flower to stare up at Sylvia in distraught wonder. "How do I know these things? How do I remember them?"

"They would have come to you in time."

"My name was Bin, then?" 

She nodded. "Yes."

Duo let all the questions, thoughts and sensations roll around in his head in silence until they finally settled into some order that could be picked through and dealt with, and Sylvia turned to leave. "Wait," he said, and she paused, half-turned at the door. There was only one other question tickling the tip of his tongue, and he was almost afraid to ask it.

"Sylvia...did they kill you too?"

"Oh no," she said sadly, her voice thick with sudden pain. "Not even at the very end."

**********

"Dammit, Duo, are you going to sleep like this every day? Get up, get up, get /up/!" Hilde threw the duvet off his bed ruthlessly. "If things keep going like this I'm getting you an alarm clock!"

"Sorry, Hilde, I didn't get a lot of sleep--let go, I'm coming!" He crawled irritably out of bed, fumbling for his clothes. 

"I know you didn't," she informed him bluntly. "I saw Heero bring you in here. So did you try out any of the tips in Quatre's book?"

"No!" Duo protested, feeling his face flush red. "I don't even remember getting into bed last night, okay?"

"But you're blushing," Hilde pointed out. "Which at least means you wouldn't mind, right..?"

Duo glared at her. Undaunted, she persisted. "Well, come on--you at least /kissed/ him, right?" She sighed, flopping back onto his bed as he tugged on his jeans. "You two've been staring at each other practically since you got here, so if there's not something going on between you--there should be!"

"There sort of is," Duo admitted gruffly--less because he was irritated with Hilde and more because he was ashamed of himself for being so pleased about it. 

Her jaw dropped. "Really? Tell me, Duo, tell me!"

Duo grinned, dragging his brush through the long hair that had gotten hopelessly tangled through the course of the night. "No way. You're mean to me."

"Me? Mean?" she repeated, doing her best to sound hurt and failing utterly. "That's not true! I'm /so/ nice to you! You have no idea what 'mean' is, Duo Maxwell, but if you don't start spilling details RIGHT NOW, I promise you you'll find out!"

"Hmph." Duo spun so his back was to her, though he realised immediately after that might not be the safest position to be in. Too late--by the time he turned back she was already flying at him, a maniacal expression lighting up her pert face.

She tackled him, and they both fell to the ground, the brush skidding off under the dresser out of Duo's reach. He squealed, she giggled, and it wasn't til he gasped out, "Hild--gonna--no breakfast--!" that she let him go and stood up, brushing herself off.

"Just tell me one thing," she said, sounding annoyed although the gleam in her blue eyes didn't match it. "Did you and Heero kiss?"

Duo nodded. Somewhere in the less-dignified parts of him--which Hilde seemed to have a peculiar talent for exploiting--he really wanted to brag about it anyway, scream it to the sky, share it with anyone who would listen. "Yes."

Hilde nodded, satisfied. "Good. Now tell me when you hit the next step," she commanded, and marched out of the room. Duo, forsaking the idea of a braid, retrieved his brush and took it with him as he ran after her.

He had little time, if any, through the rest of the day to ponder any further on Sylvia's revelations. First, he was distracted by breakfast--he realised as he and Hilde reached the dining room that it was the first time he'd be seeing Heero since The Kiss, and he was utterly at a loss for how to act. He usually sat between Hilde and Quatre at meals--was he now supposed to sit by Heero instead? Would it hurt the other boy's feelings if he didn't, or embarrass him if he did? Would he care either way? Up til now they'd done little in public besides look at each other from time to time--would that change? Then again, the other couples weren't exactly obvious about it, except Trowa and Quatre, who were inseparable....

Duo was highly confused.

The first problem, at least, was solved by simple physics. He and Hilde were the last ones to breakfast, and the others had simple assumed their usual places so Duo ended up in the only spot available--his accustomed one. Heero, he realised, looked nervous as well--both of them managed to exchange no more than a few subtle glances while Catherine explained to everyone the merits of each individual marshmallow shape in their Lucky Charms.

"The rainbows weren't in the original!" Wufei complained. "They shouldn't be there at all."

"Wufei, you weren't even born yet when they made the rainbows," Quatre said mildly. "Isn't there some sort of tenure on these things?"

"No," answered Wufei flatly. "And before you ask, let me assure you that should the rabbit ever get ahold of the Trix, I will boycott them forever."

"Oh, that'll hurt," Dorothy muttered dryly. Wufei narrowed his eyes, and the milk in her cereal bowl began to bubble. 

"That's enough of that," Quatre said smoothly, trying not to laugh. 

"That's right," Cathy agreed wickedly. "It'd be such a shame if all that hot milk fell on your head, now, wouldn't it Wufei?"

The milk ceased its bubbling, and the firestarter chugged the remainder of his cereal and gathered his books. "Good riddance to the lot of you. I'm going to class. Quatre, coming?"

The Siren looked up at him blankly. "Me? I'm not done eating yet. Go on, I'll catch up." Quatre, Duo noticed, hadn't exactly been making an effort to finish in a hurry--unless he was planning on having Cathy feed him, since his spoon was still on the table and his hand was laced into Trowa's. 

A soft caress brushed the back of Duo's neck, fingers stroking lightly through his hair. "Walk to class with me?" Heero suggested tentatively, and scrambled hastily to his feet.

"Sure! Um, see you guys later--"

"Oh, we'll come along with you," Hilde said, bouncing up as well. A wicked smile crossed her face as she added, "somebody has to chaperone you two."

"Chaperone?" Catherine repeated dryly, standing as well and gathering her bag. "Or voyeur?" Neither of the boys answered--Heero, as if in defiance, slid his hand into Duo's and led him away, the girls giggling and following close behind.

"Ah, new love," Catherine swooned, ever the performer, clasping her hands melodramatically to her chest. "How sweet."

"Say," Hilde mused, "why don't you ever give me looks like that anymore...?"

There was a loud crash from behind the boys, and instinctively they spun around to determine the cause--it was simple enough, really. All Hilde's books had crashed from her arms onto the floor when Catherine pushed her up against the wall to kiss her hungrily. Duo and Heero took the opportunity to put as much distance between themselves and the girls as they could.

Lady Une was wearing her glasses that morning. Her class went by in a blur, and Duo was relieved he'd managed to catch up enough to have some basic idea of what she was lecturing about. Still, he was too unnerved by her demeanor--and too busy trying to sneak looks at Heero--to follow much of what she said.

"She's worried," Hilde observed as the four of them--herself, Heero, Duo and Relena--made their way toward the garden. "Treize must have told her."

"They must have a plan of action, then." Catherine followed the thought to its next logical point as the pond, and its companion willow, appeared from the mist before them. Quatre and Trowa were already there--the Siren was curled between the willow's roots, his back against its trunk, curled around his tall lover, whose head rested on his chest. Dew from the surrounding mist clung to their hair and clothes, cloaking them in damp fog. Quatre raised a hand in greeting to them as they arrived. "Hi. Have a seat, Zechs is on his way." It was entirely needless communication, and his voice sounded--nervous? Unhappy? They all found places to sit on the ground--Relena curled at the edge of the pond, her fingers tickling the surface as she paid her respects to the fish. Catherine stretched out along one of the benches, her head in Hilde's lap. Heero simply sunk to the grass near Trowa and Quatre and pulled Duo down in front of him, wrapping his arms around him and stroking fingers through his hair. 

"You all look cozy," Zechs remarked, coalescing from the mist around them to stand to one side of the tree. There was no admonishment in his tone--if anything, he seemed amused by their displays of affection. "Good, it'll make this all more relaxed. I want to talk to you about something other than plant life, today."

Seven pairs of eyes followed the tall shaman as he settled himself on the grass. "I won't pretend this is a new announcement," he began, "because I know you're a sneaky lot. So I imagine you already know that the Romafeller Foundation has threatened to close down the school." His gaze slid over them, catching their nods of acknowledgement. "Well then. If you have any questions, comments, or observations, this is the time to ask them."

"What's Mr. Treize going to do?" Hilde asked--it was the question on all of their minds, after all. 

Zechs let out a long breath. "That remains to be seen. He's going to meet with Dermail--that's Dorothy's grandfather--and the rest of the Committee, and try to negotiate some kind of compromise." Duo couldn't be sure, but he thought Zechs sounded a bit dismayed by this prospect. "Alternately, he's already been in contact with Ms. Winner--she may be able to take control of St. Gabriel's out of Romafeller's hands, at least for a while."

"But it's not too likely, is it?" Quatre said softly. "So what's the backup plan?"

Zechs sighed. "If it comes down to it," he announced sadly, "we'll all vanish. Go into hiding, like the first Newtypes. We'll have to be careful about using any of our abilities, but that's no different than it was before we came here...."

"I think we should fight," said Trowa suddenly. All eyes turned to him, wide and wondering, but he just gave his head an unapologetic toss.

"Don't you know," he all but whispered, "that this has all happened before? Don't any of you remember?" Duo nodded slowly, recalling the memory of the stench of smoke and the watering of his eyes as he drifted to sleep with ash-filled lungs. "They don't have the right to keep us like this--in cages like animals, or drive us into hiding. Romafeller killed our entire family to get us here--Cathy, you remember, don't you?" Pleading, he sought his sister's gaze, and she merely nodded, her lavender-grey eyes glistening wet. "But even if they brought me here, it's home now. I don't want to be chased from place to place. I don't want to be separated from any of you. And they don't have the right to force me to!"

His impassioned plea complete, Trowa turned his face into Quatre's chest. The Siren stroked his lover's hair gently, waiting silently for Zechs' answer.

But it was Heero who spoke up. "You assume," he said simply, "that if we fought them, we could win."

"And that's where the problem lies," Zechs inserted gently. "It's not merely that Treize--and the rest of us--dislike fighting, Trowa. But consider--this isn't the first time they've made demands on us that he's refused to give in to. But always before, they've backed off when faced with the possibility of fighting or losing Treize. This time, they didn't. Which can only mean," he said with a long sigh, "that they've acquired someone, or something, to match or surpass him in power."

Silence fell. 

"You know," said Hilde after a moment--who, after all, had a genuinely apt grasp of language at any given time--"That's a really frightening thought."

The others were all forced to agree.

*************

TBC


	10. The Eye of Childhood

Gomen, minna, for taking so long about this chapter--I had midterms, car problems, scanner problems, a sinus infection and wisdom teeth, so you can see why I didn't get a lot of writing done!I'll try to get back into the swing of things now.

This one's for Jade, for finishing "Reunion 197" and getting me out of a serious writing slump! 

Ashura

***********

Chapter Ten

***********

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"Duo asked helplessly as Hilde dragged him through the corridors by his hair."If somebody catches us--"

"Then they catch us," she informed him resolutely."What's the worst they're going to do?They're too nice to really punish us."

"Yeah, but the Romafeller folks might not--OW!"He winced as she gave a tug on his hair, reaching up to rub at the sore spot on his scalp."Knock it off, huh?That hurts."Reluctantly she let him free, if only to jerk open a closet door and shove him inside it.

"Now shut up, will you?Or they'll hear us and we /will/ get caught!"Hilde pressed her slim body close against the wall, her ear against the paneling."Besides, I can barely hear what they're saying!"

Duo slumped against the wall, resigning himself to spending the bulk of the afternoon in a cramped utility closet while his section-mate tried to overhear Treize' meeting with the Romafeller representatives.It wasn't even that he objected to what they were doing--he just thought their methods left something to be desired.

For example, he could be stuffed into a closet with Heero....

He stopped /that/ train of thought before it burst into full bloom.//Focus, Duo, focus.//He pressed his ear to the wall, but the best he could make out was the faint buzzing of low, frustrated voices.

"Stop moving around!"Hilde hissed, nudging him."I can't hear!"

"I can't hear at all anyway!" he shot back, reaching a decision."I'll go guard the hall, you listen."She nodded, satisfied with the arrangement, and Duo retreated out into the hallway.

What he did /not/ expect was to find himself face to face with a pint-sized, redheaded little girl, her surprised expression rapidly melting into a rather superior smirk.

"What are you doing in the closet?" she asked him.

Duo fumbled for words, for an excuse, then realised he was under no obligation to answer to strange children in his own school's hallway."Putting something away," he lied, "what do people usually do in closets?"

"Oh."She seemed not only satisfied with his answer, but disappointed in it, beginning her next interrogation with a shrug."I'm Mariemaya Khushrenada," she announced pertly."Who are you?"

"Duo Maxwell," he answered automatically, his mind wrapping itself busily around this unexpected development."So you're--"

"Treize Khushrenada's daughter, yes," she answered, as if this were a question she was regularly asked."Except that I'm in custer--custo--I live with Mr. Barton from the Romafeller Foundation."A flash of irritation crossed her face as she stumbled over the word."He's my grandfather."

"Why don't you live with your dad?" Duo asked, and the girl shrugged.

"I don't know.I'm told there are circumstances only adults understand."She seemed less than pleased with that admission, as well, as if it grated her that there were some aspect of her life of which she was not in complete control."Grandfather's in there now with Mr. Tsuberov, talking to my father."

"Do you know what about...?" Duo asked cautiously.

Mariemaya shrugged."Closing the school, presumably."Without warning she flashed him a shy, rather smug smile."I'm not supposed to know about that," she added.

Duo grinned at her warmly."Hey, it's good to know what you're not supposed to.It's all in the interests of self-preservation."

The girl's smile brightened under his approval."I know something else," she said, her voice lowering conspiratorially."I know that my grandfather doesn't know there's a Duo Maxwell at this school.So he doesn't know anything about you."She frowned, her brow furrowing and wrinkling beneath a fringe of red hair."I'd keep it that way, if I were you."

"Thanks," said Duo, wondering why he suddenly felt his stomach sinking.

****

"He has a /daughter/??"Dorothy repeated, staring at Duo in dismay."Why the hell didn't any of us know that before?Why didn't /I/ know that before?"

"It means they have leverage over Treize," said Quatre unhappily."They don't have to have someone equal to him in power if they can keep him from acting."

Wufei nodded."Though I'm not certain why, if they've been holding his daughter this entire time, it's never come up before."He shrugged."But I'm sure they have their reasons, even if it takes time for us to discern them."

"We don't have time," Quatre growled."They were wrapped up in that meeting with Treize all afternoon, that can /not/ be promising for us."

"They all sounded upset," Hilde interjected, bouncing on the end of Dorothy's bed."I couldn't make out any real words, I'm afraid."

Trowa let out a long breath."It doesn't matter.It'll all come down to the same choice eventually:give in to Romafeller, go into hiding, or fight them."

"And we know which one you think we should choose," Quatre acknowledge softly, brushing gentle fingers across his lover's cheek.

"I remember," Trowa answered simply."If you don't...maybe you can just trust me."

"Of course I do," said Quatre, in a soft voice that dared anyone to protest.No-one did.

"I remember too," Heero said, almost casually."So does Sylvia, and Duo does, a little."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Wufei growled fiercely--a little too defiantly, perhaps, and he looked at the wall past Heero and Duo when he said it.

"Neither do I," said Relena tentatively, "but I believe you.And I don't want to go into hiding--but there's no way I'll ever become a tool for Romafeller, either.I won't."

"No," Dorothy promised darkly."And neither will I."

"I would hide," Cathy admitted a little ruefully."I wouldn't mind.But Trowa feels so strongly about it...."

Hilde laced her fingers into her lover's, smiling grimly."And I'd go with you, you know.But if the rest of the crew says fight, I guess I'll be right up in the front taking damage for 'em."

Dorothy let out a long sigh."I guess it's decided then.We fight Romafeller."

Quatre nodded."I suppose someone should go tell Mr. Treize."

*****

Treize Khushrenada had not yet gone to bed.To judge from the empty coffee pot and the grounds scattered around it, he was not intending to any time soon.He greeted the parade of students into his office with a quirk of an eyebrow and a tired smile.

"I suppose I should pretend to be surprised to see you all up," he said wearily, "but I'm not.Come in, sit down, tell me what's on your collective mind."

None of them made a move to sit down in the single extra chair near the desk."We want to fight Romafeller," Quatre said flatly.

Treize sighed."I suppose I should have expected that as well.You realise, I imagine, my problem agreeing to this course of action?"

Duo and Quatre traded worried glances."Mariemaya," said Duo tentatively.Treize masked his surprise admirably, but nodded at last.

"We've got a plan for getting around that," Trowa announced softly, slipping forward to Quatre's side."We thought if we could bring her back here, they wouldn't have that hold over you anymore."

Treize cocked his head."I think I know where this is going," he said mildly."And I'm forced to admit this...inevitable altercation will be far simpler with the lot of you involved."

"Indeed," said Trowa, smiling slightly as he began to change.Only when a pert-nosed, redheaded replica of the young Miss Khushrenada stood before them in his place did he add in her high, tight voice, "They don't even have to know she's gone, and you'll have a plant on the inside."

Quatre shook his head, shooting Trowa-Mariemaya a look of pure distaste."That's truly disturbing, love--promise you'll change back at least until morning, won't you?"

Trowa-Mariemaya just giggled.

"If we could get back on the subject...?" suggested Wufei dryly.

"Allow me to anticipate," said Treize, with a nod to Wufei."Trowa replaces Mariemaya and relays information to us through Catherine--more convenient, really, than my original plan to utilise Miss Noin.By the time Dermail, Barton and Tsuberov realise they have a doppelganger in their midst rather than a child, we'll have uncovered their weak point and how to exploit it.Am I correct?"

They traded nods and glances, as Mariemaya slowly morphed back into Trowa--to Quatre's profound relief."Essentially, sir, yes."

Treize nodded."A few changes--and clarifications, if you're to understand what's truly going on.The whole of Romafeller is not the problem--it's only a select committee known as Oz.It consists of Dermail, Tsuberov, Dekim Barton, and a few others--and originally myself, Zechs, and Lady Une.You'll be relieved, then," he added, a ghost of a smile quirking his lips, "that it won't be necessary to take out the entire Romafeller Foundation.If we just eliminate or manipulate a few certain people, the three of us can redirect Oz in the direction we want it to go."

"You mean you'd really have control of the school?" Relena asked, hope lighting up her face.

Treize nodded."Indeed.With the continued support of Dr. Winner, of course."

"Then--"Dorothy began, but stopped, letting the full significance of this statement sink in."Full control.No answering to them, no pandering to them--no chance at all that we'd be made into weapons--!"

"Full control," Treize confirmed again."And an opportunity for all of you to reach your full potential.That is, if--"

"If what?"Hilde chirped, but it was not Treize who answered.

"If we could all remember what Trowa and Heero do," said Quatre bluntly."Whatever it is that gives Sylvia visions and Duo nightmares."

Treize sighed."Yes," he conceded."But I'm afraid there's very little I can do to facilitate that."

"I, on the other hand," a smooth voice said from the doorway, "may be able to make myself useful in that respect."

They turned, surprised--even Treize, who should have seen her entrance.Lady Une leaned casually against the doorframe, her hair loose around her shoulders, watching them all intently through the glasses perched on her nose.

"Ah, Lady...."Treize greeted her gracefully, but seemed a little at a loss for words."I didn't realise you, ah..."

"Knew who they were?" she finished for him smoothly, gliding into the office, a wry half-smile twisting her lips.Unlike the headmaster, she seemed to have already found her bed and left it; she was wrapped in a silk robe of deep violet, and its the folds of soft fabric clinging to her body may have had something to do with Treize' momentary distraction."Of course I do.I've been watching them, after all...for a very long time."

Quatre let out a long breath."That's a little freaky," she confessed.Une turned to him and smiled.

"I don't mean to disturb you, Arbaa," she said smoothly, and the Siren winced.

"Don't call me that."

Her head tilted."Does it bother you so much?"

Quatre fixed her with a fierce glare."If you really understood as well as you say you do, you'd know that.And you'd know why.I already remember more than I want to."He crossed his arms defiantly over his chest, still glaring at her."Play with the rest of their heads, if they consent to it.Not mine."

Une bowed her head, a little sadly."As you wish."

"Quatre," Trowa murmured, resting a slender hand on his lover's shoulder and caressing lightly at the curve of his neck."This could be important...."

"NO!!"Quatre snapped, jerking away--the Siren's single turbulent shout scraped against their skin like a razor, pain erupting almost tangibly through the room.Trowa yanked his hand back as if stung, naked hurt and disappointment on his normally dispassionate face.

"Quatre--" he began, tentatively.

"I said no..."It came as a whimper this time, as the blonde boy threw himself into his lover's arms and buried his face in the folds of Trowa's shirt."Don't ask me, muHibb, please don't ask me...."

"All right," the doppelganger promised, wrapping his arms around Quatre protectively."We won't.I won't."

Heero cleared his throat, subtly drawing all their attention from where it lingered on the tearful couple."I don't mind, Lady Une, but I never forgot in the first place...."

She nodded."I know, Heero."Her hazel eyes flickered over the rest of the group, questioning."What about the rest of you?"

Dorothy shrugged delicately, putting to words what really they all wanted to know."How does it work?Do we just suddenly have this awareness of--well, I guess it's some kind of past life thing, the way you all make it sound--I don't know if I could handle that, but I'd try...."

"It would be more gradual than that," Une answered, with a glance at Treize--who merely watched the entire proceeding, attempting to school his face into an expression that indicated this unexpected turn of events had really been his plan all along."You'd remember bits and pieces of things, at first--in dreams, or flashes of insight.Not all at once."

"Before I agree to anything drastic," said Wufei, "could you explain to me just what it is you're going to do?"A silent chorus of nods from his schoolmates indicated their agreement, and Lady Une shrugged.

"I'm a medium," she replied."Normally, I call up the spirits of those already dead.But it's not so much a stretch to invoke the spirits of those re-born."

"That," Dorothy said flatly, "sounds a little freaky.But I guess I'm in."

Relena nodded her own agreement, sliding an arm around her girlfriend's waist."Me too."

Trowa disentangled from Quatre and stepped forward, in perfect time with Catherine who joined him."We're willing," they said together.

Duo watched nervously as Heero stepped off to the side, near where Quatre had slumped against the wall.

"Don't worry," Heero whispered, planting a quick, tender kiss behind his ear."You'll be all right."

Duo smiled weakly at him and joined the others.Hilde squeezed his arm gently as she moved to stand next to him, silent for once as her eyes spoke her acceptance in place of her voice.That left only Wufei, who looked rather tempted to refuse, and join Heero and Quatre against the wall.

Finally he let out a long breath."I will never again be weak," he whispered, more to himself than any of them, and joined them."I am no longer Long Diwu, the Fifth Dragon, no matter what memories you evoke in me."

"I know," Une answered softly, reaching for his hand.

He slipped his fingers into hers, gazing trustingly upward into her face.His dark eyes rolled back in his head and his body went limp, sagging against her, and she slid her arms around him to support him.It looked, from Duo's vantage point, like she whispered into the firestarter's ear, but her words were nothing he could make out by the movement of her lips.

And when at last he sunk to his knees, gripping Lady Une's hands as if they were his last line to the world, Wufei was murmuring too.

"Duibuqi--duibuqi--I'm sorry--"His head dropped forward, fine black hair falling forward to obscure his face.

"It's all right," Une answered, kneeling next to him and pulling him into her arms."It was a long time ago, Di--Wufei.We all forgave you a lifetime ago."

He pushed himself to his feet, supporting himself on her arm, in an uncharacteristic display of vulnerability allowing her to help him to stand."I will make amends," he stated flatly, calmly, although he was trembling.

Without answering, Une eased him into the chair."The most painful is finished," she informed them, "since Wufei's old memories...differ from the rest.And enough of them remained that he's reclaimed the bulk of them all at once."

Relena, Dorothy, Hilde, Duo, and the twins looked at each other.

"Who's next?" Relena asked tentatively.

Duo swallowed."I guess I'll go," he said.

He turned to Lady Une, who was looking at him gently, almost maternally."Don't worry," she whispered, low enough that only he could hear her as he stepped close."You've dreamt the worst of yours already.Nothing else I can awaken in you will match the vision of your own death."

Duo grinned weakly."That's good to know."

She reached out her hand, and he took it.

****

Voices.

//Bin, if you want to eat tonight, help your sister carry the firewood.//

//All right, all right--I'm coming!How come I have to help and Trey-ti doesn't?//

//He is helping.He's mending the saddle so he can go fetch Heero and Arbaa tonight.Firewood, Bin.Now.//

A face--pert, delicate, wide blue eyes staring up at him, mouth split it a wide, winsome grin, dark hair chopped short like a boy's just to spite him for leaving his own long.A short blue linen dress, leaving bare her mud-spattered legs as she dragged along a satchel of wood that must have outweigh her.//C'mon, you're supposed to help with this too.//

//Hilde?//

//Kara, silly.//

A tall form, chestnut hair framing a pale face and deep green eyes--only to his shoulder, not so long as his own, and belong to an angular boy in roughworn breeches and carrying a saddle.

//Hey, Trey-ti!Heero and Arbaa are coming tonight?//

A smile that lit up his brother's blank face like the sun was rising in it.//Finally, they're back from the East....//

A pair of deep azure eyes, captivating, holding him, they must have been impressed indelibly on his soul's memory since the beginning of time--

//Heero?//

//Of course.//

//Heero!//

The swirl of images around Duo faded, and darkened, and he fell--

He felt Heero's arms around him before he had time to reach the ground.

*****

It was dark when he awoke--he was in his own room, in his own bed, tangled in his duvet.Whoever had put him to bed had taken off his shirt but not his jeans, and they were stiff and sweaty against his skin.

He'd been dreaming again--it was, ostensibly, the result of Lady Une's "awakening" him, as his mind tried to cope with the onslaught of memories suddenly overwhelming it.He still couldn't "remember" all of his friends, but a few faces he knew as intimately as his own.

"Kara...."He wondered how much she remembered--she was Hilde now, and was usually the one looking after /him/, but a lifetime ago she's been his adoring little sister, had idolised and looked up to him.

He'd been the one to find her body, and it had crushed him.

"Trey-ti."An elder brother, quiet and strong--he had vanished, leaving no trace that he had ever existed at all.Duo remembered acutely how it had driven Arbaa nearly insane, until the blonde shiekh had disappeared in search of his lost love.Quatre and Trowa had been together even then.

But then, so had he and Heero.Duo recalled that most of all, the gentle caress of soft fingers against his skin, the warmth of desperate kisses and whispered promises of faithfulness for all eternity.

//I'll find you.No matter what it takes.//

He was surprised to find tears stinging his cheeks.

//Promise you'll never leave me--//

//I won't leave you.//

//I'll always come back to you.//

He didn't stop to think about what he was doing before he crawled out of bed, didn't bother with shoes or untangling his hair--he padded barefoot and bare-chested down the hall, and down the stairs at the end of it, finding his way through the dark corridor to the door he thought was Heero's.

And tapped, hesitantly.

A muffled grunt came from the other side--he remembered with fondness that Heero had always been a light sleeper--and the rustle of bedclothes, and light footsteps before the door opened.Heero's hair was as matted as Duo's--it was easy to tell he'd been asleep, strands of dark brown pointing every which way from his head as he rubbed blearily at his eyes.He stepped back and motioned Duo inside.

"I missed you," Duo said simply.

Heero, rather than being annoyed at the disturbance to his sleep, managed a sleepy smile and brushed his fingers across Duo's cheek."Do you want to stay here?"

The braided boy nodded, adding a tentative, "If that's all right..."

"Of course."Heero crawled back into his rumpled bed, scooting over to make room for Duo, then wrapping his arms around him as soon as he lay down."I missed you too, you know," he whispered drowsily into soft strands of chestnut hair.

"Heero," Duo asked softly, "how long were you waiting?"

Heero considered, nuzzling into the hollow of Duo's side, his face so close his breath warmed the other boy's cheek.It felt good to be in his arms, Duo thought blissfully as he waited for an answer."A long time," Heero mumbled."Centuries, at least."

"Oh...." Duo was not sure what to say.

But Heero knew."I'm not letting you go this time," he promised.

*****


	11. If It Find Heaven, Must Find It Out Toni...

**********

Chapter Eleven

**********

Light poked persistently at Duo's eyelids, luring him inevitably into consciousness.He was warm, and so very comfortable, nestled against the firm heat of Heero's body.His cheek was pillowed against Heero's chest, and the other boy's arms enfolded him comfortably, holding him close, fingers tangled in his hair.

"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty," a soft voice purred in his ear.A brilliant smile broke across Duo's face as he tilted his gaze upward to meet those deep blue eyes."How are you feeling?"

"Good," Duo replied automatically--and realised almost as soon as the word left his lips that he meant it.He felt good.Wonderful, in fact."Perfect, right now.You're here."

It must have been the right thing to say, because Heero's arms tightened around him, and he felt a kiss brush across his forehead."I'm glad.I feel the same--like something was missing, and now it's finally back where it belongs."

"What, me in your bed?" Duo teased, though he wouldn't have moved for the world.A happy sigh escaped his lips as he snuggled closer, hiding under the blankets."I /do/ belong here."

Heero chuckled, kissing the top of his head."Yes, you do," he agreed.Then he turned serious again--he didn't move, but Duo could feel the transformation, the subtle shift in his partner's mood."Duo...after last night...how much do you remember?"

The blankets shifted as Duo wriggled, finally poking his head out."Kara and Trey-ti, mostly.And my mother's voice, but I can't ever picture what she looked like.And you, of course."A faint blush suffused his cheeks.

A pause, and then an almost tentative--"What do you remember about me, Duo?"

He shrugged."Mostly your eyes.The way you made me feel."His face split with what he was sure must be a ridiculous grin."Heck, that's easy, it's the same way you make me feel now.Not to change the subject or anything," he added, "but did you mean it?About waiting for centuries?"

Now it was Heero's turn to go pink around the edges."Of course.But--well, I might have misspoke a little."He shifted, adjusting his body beneath Duo's, letting his stiff limbs stretch."It had been so long...I didn't recognise you at first.I didn't /forget/ things exactly, not like the rest of you, who have all been reborn with new lives--I just put it all away for a while, because it hurt to much to carry with me."

He sighed, his voice taking on a melancholy note that made Duo's hold on him tighten protectively."I used to say I'd never go a day without telling you I loved you, even after you were gone.And I did--for so long, Duo, I don't think you can even fathom the time.And every time I saw someone with long hair like yours, I hoped they were you.Everything I ever saw in that same shade of purple as your eyes made me want to cry.I looked everywhere for you, I never settled down anywhere, because I knew someday you'd be born, and I didn't know where, and I didn't want to miss you."

"Heero--"Duo pushed himself up, to stare down into his lover's eyes in wonder."This may sound a bit ignorant of me, but--you meant all that literally, didn't you?You really haven't been reborn like the rest of us, you just--just didn't die--"

Heero closed his eyes, shielding his soul from that penetrating gaze."Yes," he sighed."That's what I mean.And after a while--a long while--I just couldn't do it anymore.There's a limit to how long anyone can go around being miserable before something inside just refuses to do it anymore.I couldn't control when you'd come back--I had todistract myself from missing you or I'd go crazy.So I gave myself new lives to lead, each one a new persona I could sink myself into."The next few phrases took him several attempts before he could finally force out the words, and even that was barely more than a whisper."I'm sorry for that.I said I'd never forget you, ever, and--and I did for a while.I didn't recognise you when you came here; I didn't even remember myself right away.You'll forgive me, won'tyou?"

"Oh, Heero--"Duo's poor human heart was too confining for the burst of ecstasy that made him claim his lover's lips then, pouring into the simple meld of lips all the incredible, euphoric joy that infused him.Had he been considering it rationally, he might have attributed it to the loneliness of his younger life, the profound relief at the realisation that someone really /did/ care for him, and not only that but had spend lifetimes waiting for him, loving him--but he wasn't thinking rationally, he wasn't thinking at all, unless it was that he had to make Heero understand.

"That's a silly question," he said as he pulled away.Heero's eyes were shining, and he knew he'd accomplished his goal."I would never have wanted you to be miserable," he whispered, nestling into the curve of the other boy's side again.

The next time he awoke, it was because his stomach was growling at him, and Heero was shaking his shoulder gently. 

"Wake up...let's go get breakfast...."

"Food?"Duo repeated intelligently--quite possibly the only temptation that could have dragged him from the warm and comforting circle of Heero's arms.He crawled out of bed, tugging his clothes straight and looking about for a brush to drag through his hair.He was still hunting when strong arms caught him from behind, pulling him back against his lover's chest.

"May I?" Heero breathed huskily in his ear, stroking slender fingers through the long hair like a comb.Duo nodded, not quite trusting his voice as he bent his head forward and Heero went to work--he must have had a brush somewhere, and now he put it to good use, deftly working through the tangles that inevitably snarled in Duo's hair when he slept.

It was considerably longer than they'd intended before they finally /did/ leave the room for the breakfast hall.

Their friends were huddled around the table, muttering in low, unhappy tones, as they approached."Hey," Duo called cautiously, "What's up?"

Hilde reached behind her to seize his hand and yank him closer, without ever turning her head."Have a seat.Have some cereal.We're plotting.Treize and Trowa left already."Which explained, Duo supposed, why Quatre was staring despondently into his cereal rather than eating it."Miss Noin's taking over all his classes.Though I don't see how they expects us to go through the day like normal when--well, you know--"

"That's exactly why we have to," Relena interjected softly."If we cancel classes and go around looking like we're preparing for a war, we won't exactly have the element of surprise on our side, will we?"

Hilde grumbled."I guess not."She scooted her chair over, looping her fingers around Duo's wrist and pulling him into the one next to her."I dreamed about you," she informed him under her breath. 

It surprised him, although it probably shouldn't have."I dreamed about you too, a bit.Kara.You were a brat," he couldn't resist adding, and she stuck her tongue out at him.

//"Kara!"He was calling her--he'd been looking for her ever since he returned, and his cries were getting more frantic with each breath.It was bad enough he had to come back and tell his family that he hadn't been able to find Trey-ti, that their elder brother and his exotic, eccentric lover had vanished completely.It was worse that he would have to explain what he had learned about the mysterious enemy haunting their every step, and see the resigned sorrow in his mother's eyes as she tried to be strong enough for all of them.But now he couldn't find Kara, and he was getting worried--

And then he found her.Crumpled in a heapacross the threshold of the stable, a handful of grain scattered in the dirt around her body--she must have been on her way to talk to her horses, but never made it.Her back was twisted at an angle no-one's body should ever be forced into, and traces of coagulated blood crusted in the short dark hair that covered her face.

He screamed--//

"Duo!"Hilde's hand clamped over his mouth, muffling the wailing that he suddenly realised hadn't just been inhis mind.Heero's arms encircled him from behind, protective and gentle."I'm right here, idiot,"Hilde was telling him, her voice worried."I'm no more dead than you are, ssh, it's okay--"

"'m sorry," Duo mumbled through her fingers, and since he didn't seem about to scream again, she pulled her hand away.He winced--there were teeth marks in her skin."Ow, sorry, Hilde..."

She shook her head."Don't worry about it.It's me, remember?Doesn't even hurt.You just had a flashback."She sighed, explaining her sudden expertise on the subject."We've all been having them for most of the morning."

"Except me," Catherine interrupted, a tint of bitterness in her voice."I don't have any past life memories.Zip, zilch, nada."She shot a glance toward Quatre, who, once it was clear Duo was in no immediate mortal danger, had gone back to poking his spoon into his soggy cereal.

"How come?" Duo asked, and the telekinetic shrugged.

"Beats me.Lady Une couldn't pull anything out of me either, but you were passed out by then."

"You weren't there."The voice came from Quatre's corner of the table, but had none of the Siren's usual melodic timbre--it was more like a growl."You weren't there," he continued, fiercely defying anyone to interrupt or question him further."Only Trowa was.You were formed because I split him in two!"His voice rose, hysterically, and collectively the others flinched away from him."Crack!Broken Trowa.Broken soul.Becomes twins.Happy now?All your questions answered?"Quatre thrust the bowl away from him and twisted out of his chair, storming out the door.

Silence fell.Catherine stared after Quatre, her hands clenched, confusion warring with concern in her face, until Hilde leaned over and brushed a kiss across her cheek.Wordlessly, Cathy rested her head on Hilde's shoulder and closed her eyes.

*****

It was harder than anticipated to keep up the illusion of normalcy.Lady Une's personalities shifted sporadically even throughout her class, and her normally coherent lectures ranged between tangents too frequently for her already-preoccupied students to keep up.And it was disconcerting whenever she would forget herself and call them by older, less familiar names.When she stumbled at last to a halt and dismissed them with a vague, vacant smile, it was all they could do not to collectively run for the door.

Zechs' class, they were sure, would be easier to follow.

Except that they never quite made it there.Halfway through the garden, when the tall willow that overlooked the pond was just coming into view, Catherine let out a startled cry and collapsed.Hilde barely kept her from hitting the ground, and stood staring helplessly at Duo, Heero, and Quatre.

"What do I do?"

"Take her to Sally," Quatre answered, worry overcoming whatever it was that had been depressing him all morning."Hurry!It might mean there's something wrong with Trowa!"

What else /could/ it mean, Duo wondered, but decided it might be best to keep that thought to himself.Heero, stronger than Hilde, lifted Catherine out of the smaller girl's arms, cradling her delicately against his chest."Duo," he said, his blue eyes pleading, "go find Sylvia--"Then he turned and hurried away, back toward the hall.

Duo mumbled something that he hoped was taken as agreement and pelted up the walkway, skidding through the door, and running full tilt for the staircase that would take him to Sylvia's basement.He didn't want to go down there alone--if he'd stopped to think, he would have been amased that he remembered the way--but it didn't take a genius to figure out that this was important.He almost tripped over the first loose stair, flailing wildly to catch himself on the rickety handrail, but at last he made it to the artist-oracle's den in one piece and banged hard on the door.

"Sylvia!"

The door swung open before he was ready and he stumbled inside, regaining his balance before swinging his gaze around the room.

He startled to call her name again but stopped, startled into silence, unconsciously straightening as he caught sight of her.

Gone was the tattered uniform of smock and jeans and stocking feet, the careless knot of hair tied at the nape of her neck.She had discarded them all for a long white shift that clung to her legs and decked her like a Greek goddess, fringed with silver threads along the sleeves and hem.More silver cinched it at her waist and glittered around her neck, where it mingled with the long strands of daffodil-golden hair now falling loose down her back.Only one slender arm was visible beneath the folds of the burgundy cloak draping around her shoulders, pushed back over one of them for freedom of movement as she rummaged through a collection of pigments and paints in a box against her easel.

She turned toward him, gesturing with a paintbrush."Come in.I'll only be a moment."

Duo swallowed."Heero asked me to find you."

Sylvia nodded."I thought he might."She frowned."They found Trowa too soon--they weren't supposed to, you believe me right?That I would have warned him if I'd known it?"

He nodded, bouncing on the balls of his feet, waiting impatiently."Of course."

She sighed, relieved, and the cloak fell across her arms as she reached for something behind her table on the floor."Help me, Duo, would you please--?"

He knelt next to her, helping her drag something long and hard and wrapped in blankets out from under the table, rocking back onto his heels as she unwrapped it.

His breath caught in his throat.It was a sword.It was easily four feet long, perfectly straight, with a slender blade and a snake coiled around a rose as a hilt.The snake's beady emerald eyes glared balefully at Duo as Sylvia returned it to its sheath and slung it across her back, under the cloak.

//I've seen that before, I know I have--//

She grabbed his hand."We should go."

Duo hurried up the spiral staircase in her wake, feeling that this was all rather uncomfortably surreal.

*******


	12. Let Determined Things to Destiny

NIOBE'S VIOLETS

by Ashura Nagisa

DEDICATION:For Dan, for his 1x2 School fic contest

DISCLAIMERS:The usual.I don't own any of the characters, names or places from GW, I've just warped them.

WARNINGS: Yaoi (3x4, 1x2), Yuri (HxC, RxD)

ARCHIVE:Desolation Angels (http://www.dreamwater.net/ashura)

**********

Chapter Twelve:Let Determined Things to Destiny

**********

Note:At this point the chapters get shorter, and it becomes impossible for me to remain in Duo's perspective consistently and still get the whole story told, so some of the other characters will get to have a voice as well.Also...lots of flashbacky things in this, it gets really weird.(Not that it wasn't before.)

****

All eyes in the crowded infirmary looked to the door as Sylvia entered, Duo hurrying in her wake.She could have made a grand entrance, but neglected to--wisps of flyaway hair defied control to float like a halo around her head, the hem of her gown tangled in her legs, and the sword banged awkwardly against her back.

"What the--" Hilde began, but broke off as Sally glided from the cot to meet them.

"So," she said softly, "it's this close."

From one corner, Quatre let out a sigh."We're going to be fighting sooner than we thought, aren't we?"

Sylvia met his eyes over Sally's shoulder, mouthing the words in silence--I'm sorry.

Quatre shrugged, straightening finally, his aquamarine eyes taking on a wild, disconcerting gleam as he assumed a mantle of command he had yet to be presented with."So be it.Where are Dorothy and Miss Noin?Someone needs to find out just what's happened to Trowa and Mr. Treize.Then we need guards to man the balconies and keep an eye out for anyone entering the grounds."

"Hilde, Duo," Sylvia inserted fluidly, her voice barely more than a whisper, "please find the others, and tell them to meet back here--except Relena and Wufei, they should guard."Quatre glanced at her, startled, but nodded agreement.Duo, thoroughly unnerved, turned and darted from the room, Hilde close on his heels.She, he noticed, looked no better than he, and they submitted to the others' bizarre direction purely out of trust that someone understood what was going on far better than they did--it was instinct, merely, that an insane prophet and a Siren whose only command to date had been on a gameboard would somehow see them out of this alive and whole.

"I'll check the pond, you try upstairs," Hilde said, reaching out to catch his hand and squeeze it once before pelting down the passageway that would lead her back outside.Duo spun around the corner and headed up the stairs, ducking through the door at the first landing.

He found Wufei and Lady Une standing sentry at the entrance to Dorothy's room, and they both looked startled as he skidded down the corridor toward them.

"You've got to come meet the others in the infirmary," he gasped out."Something's happened to Trowa and Mr. Treize, everyone's convening there--except you, Wufei, Quatre wants you to watch for intruders in case Romafeller shows up ahead of schedule."

"/Quatre/ wants...?" Wufei began questioningly, but broke off when Lady Une fairly snapped to attention, slipping her glasses from her pocket and sliding them onto her nose.

"Wufei, take the first balcony, Duo, you take the third.Inform me at once if they make an attempt to breach the perimetre, and keep them from entering.I will take Dorothy to meet the others."In a simple effect of posture she had adopted an air of authority that neither boy could question; they only nodded sharply once and dashed off to do her bidding.

"Listen," said Wufei, as they ran for the stairs, "if anybody does try to come through, I'll take care of holding them off--you'll be higher, so you can see further.If you see anything, run down to tell me right away, then go let Lady Une know.All right?"

"You got it," Duo answered, waving what he hoped was a jaunty goodluck to his schoolmate as Wufei turned off to man his post.

He continued up the stairs, hurrying for his own--the little spot so near the gabled roof where he and Heero had spend their tender moments.He was panting by the time he reached it, his legs burning with the exertion of running up every flight of stairs in the school with barely a breath between, and rested heavily against the railing.Now all he could do was wait until the enemy arrived.

****

Wherever Trowa was, it was very dark.It was disconnected, too, and while he remembered vaguely that he should have had a body, he could find nothing substantial about himself that would obey his commands.So he floated--detached and inchoate, as if he were the living, conscious proof that all matter is nothing more than energy.

It had hurt, but only for a moment--there had been a sharp pain, piercing through his skin--he had called out at that moment, screamed her name with what could well have been his last breath, praying that she'd hear him even in this strange not-place he was trapped in now.

Memories here were as detached as thought; sometimes they brushed the surface of his mind as nothing more than a scene, a captured moment, with no context to give it time or place--random, chaotic.

//"Come along, Mariemaya, it's time for your medicine.Don't want you to get sick now, do we...?"Hands, heavy on his small shoulders, steering him down sterile hallways.And he following, because he didn't know any better.

A door opening.A gaunt old man with greying hair and a dark gleam alight in eyes that chilled Trowa to the depth of his soul--oh God, he knows, he knows!--and then the prick of steel against flesh, and everything ripped, ripped apart--"CATHY!!!!!!!!!!"//

//A flimsy wooden building--the stable--it must be springtime because of the sun shining through the crack between the boards, it only ever did that in early spring before the leaves outside grew to cover it.His fingers stroked slowly through his horse's chestnut mane.Tah-mal-lee, the stallion's name was:it meant "always," and he was a gift from Arbaa when last his lover had been able to leave the desert and visit him.Their interludes were few and distant, and the time between was punctuated with a longing that bordered on obsession.They shared dreams frequently--something neither had been brave enough to tell their parents; it was a dangerous practice and not to be wasted on the frustrated erotic fantasies of barely-grown boys.Trey-ti pressed his cheek against Tah-mal-lee's neck, breathing in the comforting scent of horsehair and leather."I miss him," he confessed in a heartbroken whisper."I miss him...."//

//The shackles they locked him in had been painted with venom, some kind of acid that ate slowly through his skin, its sting keeping him entirely too awake.He tried to change, to shift form to something smaller that could escape their bonds and their notice, but whatever they had done to him kept his power from answering.He had been able, at most, to will one lock open--but that too they had prepared for, and there were several more that he could not force into obescience.Even now the poison dissolving into his bloodstream made his entire body burn from the inside.

But that was nothing compared to the agony ringing in the heartbroken voice that screamed his name.

"TREY-TI!!"In all the world, no-one else had such a voice, no-one could capture a cosmos worth of emotion til it screeched along the skin like a lathe, searing away layer after layer of skin til he was sure he must be laid out naked to the sky--but he was not, and his body, disobedient though it was, remained his own.

"Arbaa..."His voice rasped hoarse from his cracked lips."It's all right..."It wasn't--it wasn't all right at all, nothing was, but Trey-ti found he feared the feral light in his love's pale eyes far more than he feared whatever further tortures awaited him.It hurt, to see such anger in those eyes that had shone with love for him til he trembled, to hear such pain in the voice that could have caressed his sorrow away.

And as he watched Arbaa lift his head and meet his gaze, he knew he was too late. "No!It isn't!It won't be!"The blonde sheikh was already too far gone, driven past the edge of hysteria by his own grief.He screamed again--Trey-ti's name, soul-searing anguish exploding like a supernova through the courtyard and over the plains, echoing in the star-filled sky.Trey-ti felt himself shatter, body and soul in a thousand fragments cascading to the ground, a shower of falling stars that once had been a boy.He was everything, and nothing--and then for a time he was no more.//

Floating again.Always floating, always empty--he remembered so clearly for a moment, and then it was gone again.It was warm, though, and peaceful--he would be content to remain so for eternity, but for the empty part of his heart that told him something was missing.

Only he had forgotten whatever that something was.

****

Une breezed into the infirmary with Dorothy and Noin behind her.She had changed somehow, Heero realised--or maybe she had come fully into memory, the way he had, or Wufei.Maybe things were all coming together at long last, and this battle would truly be the final stand.Maybe this time all he had to do was win, and he would be free--free to forget the past, to live happily with Duo, and when the time came, to die with him.

Sylvia caught his eye and smiled sadly."Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished," she whispered in his ear,Her breathy voice sent a shiver down his spine.

Dorothy plopped onto the edge of Cathy's sickbed and opened her laptop--the red-haired telekinetic had still not moved; not even her eyelids fluttered in what seemed to be much more than sleep.Miss Noin was holding something in her hand--a ring, Heero recognised.One he'd noticed on Treize's finger, and more recently on Lady Une's.It was the Lady who had given Noin the bauble, as a focus for the clairvoyant's already strong power.

"I'll find him," Noin whispered reassuringly--she probably thought that no-one but Lady Une heard her.Une just nodded once, forcing back the worry that clouded her eyes.

"I'm looking too," Dorothy spoke up.She didn't even touch the keyboard; her hands hovered over it like a Ouija game, numbers meaningless to anyone else scrolling rapidly across her screen."If they're anywhere in Romafeller's system, I'll find them."

"Maybe I should go help watch--" Heero began.He felt helpless, like a trapped animal capable of doing nothing more than chewing off his own leg or waiting for someone to come put him out of his misery.

But before the last words had left his lips, the door burst open, and Relena fell against the door, panting hard.

She said what they all expected to hear."They're coming."

Noin refused to break her concentration away from the mental search for Treize and Trowa.Quatre and Sylvia exchanged a look, and Dorothy glanced up at them without tearing her attention completely away from the computer.

Quatre nodded slowly, once."Miss Noin...Dorothy...keep looking.I'll stay here and guard them and Catherine."

Sylvia stepped forward, straightening the sword on her back as if finally it had become the right weight for her--it no longer seemed awkward, any more than her strange apparel."You should come with me, Heero," she commanded, but he was already ready and at her side.She turned to Une instead, resting a hand briefly on the older woman's arm.

"Come on, Mother," she said softly."It's time."

*****


	13. Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble

I promised you battle, didn't I

I promised you battle, didn't I?Well, here it is!Lots of stuff blowing up.A few more secrets of the past revealed.Oh, and a bit of Duo-skin.Ash understands fan-service after all. *grin*

NIOBE'S VIOLETS

by Ashura Nagisa

DEDICATION:For Dan, for his 1x2 School fic contest

DISCLAIMERS:The usual.I don't own any of the characters, names or places from GW, I've just warped them.

WARNINGS: Yaoi (3x4, 1x2), Yuri (HxC, RxD)

ARCHIVE:Desolation Angels (http://www.dreamwater.net/ashura)

AUTHOR'S NOTES:AU, Humour, Drama. 

***********

Chapter Thirteen:Double, Double, Toil and Trouble

***********

The afternoon sky was scarlet with fire and rage.

The battle had begun simply--Duo had seen the long black car pulling through the gates, and raced down to Wufei's balcony to warn him.From somewhere distant, they heard Relena shouting to them that the other side had been breached as well.Wufei didn't know what happened to either of them after that.He'd growled at Duo to get away, to run and help the others somehow while he held the car away.

Flames licked at his fingertips and played down his arms--they were his children, he gave birth to them, raised them, called them, and then sent them forth.This was his natural element, the one remaining legacy of his draconic ancestry, and he reveled it in.The fire filled him, but never consumed, and with the barest thought he sent it leaping from his hands to wall the road that led to his fortress.

Lifetimes ago, Long Diwu, the Fifth Dragon, had succumbed to the torments of his captors and loosed the firestorm that took the life of his kin.

And for this, Chang Wufei would take revenge.

******

The mist rolled in from the forest, obfuscating everything--and that was the first sign that something was wrong.Barely visible, the faint shadow-shape of human forms jostled within it, an incoming cloud of roiling bone and flesh.

What worried Zechs the most was that he sensed no /life/ in any of them.

"Hilde, go back inside."She'd been sent to bring him back, he knew, but he couldn't leave now."Tell them I'm holding off as many as I can in the garden, that Tsuberov's sent his creatures in for us.Noin at least will know what I mean."

She glared at him defiantly, her hands on her hips."All by yourself?You're going to need me here!"

He shook his head--he had no time to argue with the stubborn girl."Not half so much as they'll need you there.Go!"

She gave him a last hurt look, but turned and pelted back toward the main building.Zechs sighed, resting for a moment against the trunk of the willow tree."Well, old friend," he said quietly, the rough bark comforting against his skin, "I need your help on this one."

He could feel--the way he tried to teach his students to feel, the way he'd always somehow been able to--when the ancient tree sang to life beneath his hand, her warmth spreading through his blood."Thank you," he murmured as he sank to his knees on the grass, fumbling for the Swiss Army knife in his pocket.There was still one sure way to protect his garden from Tsuberov's inhuman army.

A deft flick of the knife sliced his palm open before his body had time to register the pain--first one hand, then the other, more gingerly, before he let the instrument slip through from his tingling fingers.That was not the weapon he would use today.

Blood trickled down his arms and welled in the palms of his cupped hands.He leaned forward, his head bowed, and pressed his hands to the ground, watching dispassionately as the sanguine stuff, still crimson and liquid, seeped into the dirt.

Perhaps it should have hurt.It did not.Instead it was liberating, the power of this /joining/ with the earth--he could feel the sun on his face though the clouds obscured it, and the wind bore to him the scent of sea salt and desert sands.His skin tingled with the vibration of being, of /life/, and he celebrated it, basked in it.

And then he called to it, and it answered.All around him, the grass began to grow; the trees stretched out their leafy boughs and straightened gnarled roots, til they had formed a wall between the golem army and the garden.Weeds sprouted, elongated, and wrapped viciously around unprotected legs, trapping the invaders in unforgiving vines.

Zechs laughed, exhilaration coursing through veins fast emptying of blood.

*****

Eternity in darkness.Trowa--or was he Trey-ti?Which name, which memories truly belonged to him?Or were they all his, part and parcel of this creature he could no longer find form to be?Whatever it was, he had no way to judge the time.Epochs could have passed, and ice ages, while he floated in this stygian void.

He was lonely, and emptier by the second.The memories, whoever's they were, came less frequent now, as he lost his tenuous grip on whatever identity he had once claimed.Flashes of blonde hair and soft skin, of soft lavender-grey eyes and red curls, taunted him with their proximity, never close enough to catch.

Now he was thinking of thoughts as tangible things--he who was no longer tangible himself.Was this truly all there was left of him, then?Or was even this transition, and he would fade before long to merge with the empty chaos of the cosmos?

//I'm scared.//He would have whispered it, had he had voice to speak. 

And to his desperate, joyful surprise, an answer came.Jumbled thoughts mingled with his own; someone else's emotions and memories that remained inexorably linked to his--fire, the char of burnt bodies and crying, the warmth of a scratchy wool blanket, the fervent grip of a sibling's hand.

//Cathy?//

A brush against his consciousness like the faint touch of her hand--a sorrowful flash of deep blue eyes, and the memory of the curve of an adolescent breast--and warmth, suffusing him, lending him form.

//Trowa!It's all right, I'm here.//

If he'd had proper eyes, he would have cried.//Cathy...I can't feel my body...I can't find it...it hurt, and they I couldn't get back to it...//

//That's all right,// she whispered.//You can share mine.//

*****

Another door, another empty room.Despite his ever-dignified appearance, Treize Khushrenada was quickly becoming extremely pissed off.Yes, dammit, that /was/ the only way to quite word the anger bubbling in his blood.

The ruse had been an utter failure--he still wasn't sure how Dekim had recognised Trowa, but he had, and had dragged "Mariemaya" off to some other wing under the pretense of a routine medication.Treize had a reasonable idea of what had really been in that syringe--unfortunately he hadn't figured it out early enough, or neither of them would be in this mess now.

He hurried down a long corridor--the walls had turned from wood to metal some time back, and he seemed to have reached the laboratory wing at last.He kicked open another door, though he was beginning to expect nothing but empty gurneys and shelves full of tools.

This time, though, he opened the door directly into the surprised face of a young man in a lab coat and goggles.A body lay prone on a table behind him, covered with a sheet, but Treize caught sight of a telltale strand of escaped red hair.

"What the--?"the man began.Treize ignored him, pushing past to throw back the sheet that covered the body.

Mariemaya--or, he suspected in this case, Trowa--lay strapped to it, blue eyes open and vacant, all her muscles lax.He had just reached for the fastenings to the restraints that held her down when the young lab assistant interposed himself between the angry warlock and the table.

"You can't do that!What the hell?What are you doing in here?"

Treize leveled him a dark glare."What's your name?"

The man blinked."Mueller--why?"

"Well, Mueller," Treize said calmly, "you have three choices.You can help me.You can walk out that door quietly, and /now/...or you can not walk out at all."

Mueller's eyes hardened, and he reached a hand into his pocket--probably, Treize thought idly, he truly believed he was being subtle.And intimidating."Or," he said, "I can keep you from walking out."

Treize sighed."I had a feeling you'd say that."In one smooth gesture he raised his hand--light burst forth from his palm, momentarily blinding even himself.Mueller flew backward, hitting the wall with a solid thud and sinking to a crumpled heap on the floor.

The headmaster of the St. Gabriel Institute spared the man's body no more than a glance.He set about hastily freeing Mariemaya's--no, Trowa's--body and slung the unconscious doppelganger over his shoulder.There would be time to worry about recovering him later.

Finding Mariemaya after that was a good deal easier, but that might have been because Treize decided to employ less discreet tactics.Anything that got in his way, he destroyed.By the time his daughter came hurrying up to him to cling to his side, there was little left but rubble.

"It looks like they had an earthquake," she observed, sounding pleased."But shouldn't that other part fall down too?"

Treize glanced at her."I suppose you're right."He freed his hand from her grasp and leveled it toward the remaining buildings.With one murmured command, Oz' entire laboratory wing tumbled to the ground in a heap of smoking, dusty, shattered debris.

*****

Duo was trying--and barely, slowly managing--to climb up the roof.He'd abandoned his post to run and warn Wufei that a hearse was arriving.And the firestarter had done an amasing job of holding them off for a while, all the way up until the moment when a thick black cloud appeared above the Romafeller car and Dekim Barton had stood on the roof of it, his arms spread wide.He called something, perhaps a name, and a shockwave had ripped from his hands to shake the school down to its rattling stone foundation.Wufei fell back, his head connecting solidly with the wall behind him.Dizzily, he managed to stand, but by the time he could coax fire from his fingers again, Barton, Dermail and Tsuberov had breached the perimetre and reached the courtyard.

Things had gone steadily downhill from there.Most of the others were had joined battle in the courtyard--Tsuberov had apparently brought with him an army of golems, artificial people he'd build and animated.Duo cringed to think was /his/ power must be.He understood now that there was more to this than just wanting to close down a school and use the students as weapons--there was something running much deeper, something that made all the memories of his previous life important.

And he'd figure out what it was, /after/ he got to the roof where Dekim Barton had cornered Heero.He wasn't sure how either of them had gotten up there in the first place, but there they were, and he was left clambering up the side of the building to reach them.His head crested the gutter just as Heero turned and noticed him in time to offer him a hand.Duo grasped it, and Heero hauled him effortlessly up onto the roof.

"So it's you."Dekim seemed more pleased to see Duo than surprised."I should have known you were here as well.Why else would all the points converge at once to give me this?"

"I don't know what the fuck you're talking about," Duo said, holding tight to the hand of a fiercely-glaring Heero.His mind registered, without consulting the parts of him that might have to act in a hurry, that the man's eyes were glowing a deep red, and his skin looked like leather and flaking parchment. 

Dekim cackled."Of course you don't.You're the cause of all this, after all.What power your dear lover could have had, if he hadn't given it all up for you--misbegotten creature that you always were!He couldn't have fallen from grace any harder if I'd planned it out myself!"His sinister smile widened wickedly."But I didn't.You do all the hard work for me, Bin a-k'San, I only pick up where you leave off."

"That's enough!"Heero snapped, wrenching his arm from Duo's grasp to strike at Dekim's face.The taller man blocked it far too easily, laughter welling up in his throat.

"See?"he pointed out to Duo smugly."Because of you, that's all he's capable of!"He shook his head."Do you know why almost all of you here have attractions for people of the same sex, Bin a-k'San?"

Duo paced forward, growling."I don't see why we're having this conversation--"

"To keep any of you from breeding," Dekim hissed, halting Duo's advance with an upraised hand."I thought it would have been the end of your whole bedamned line, when the last of you died, but not even that--no, you were all reborn.But at least there were no more of your spawn to deal with.I could find you all...gather you in one place, watch you, and wait for the right moment to make you mine, or destroy you once and for all!"

Duo gaped at him open-mouthed.He may have suspected things ran deep, and he still didn't completely understand what was going on, but he was starting to feel way in over his head.But at the same time, the answer came to him.

//Feel it.Become it.//

He stood completely still, and began summoning his power to him.

"Now," Dekim finished, clapping his hands together, "I know just what to do.Get rid of Heero first, and he can't call the rest of you back--without him to anchor you, once the rest of you die, you'll never have a body again!"

And Duo's Power answered.Heat seared through him; the remnants of Sylvia's painted mark blazed to brilliant life on his chest.Green light burst from his hands, coalesced into the tenuous curved likeness of a scythe.He swung it toward Dekim, and as it touched the man's shoulder it burst from even that insubstantial form, cascading around their feet in a shower of sparks, exploding everything it touched.The ground beneath them crumbled--Heero jumped back and Dekim plummeted off the side of the building, bony fingers scrabbling for purchase at the wall before the single hold he found collapsed as well.

Duo himself hovered for a moment, suspended in air, buoyed by his own power.It emanated from his very form, burning his skin, dissolving his clothes, illuminating his eyes with an unholy glow.

And then it faded, and the painted mark vanished from his chest, and he fell.

"Heero!"He flailed, tried to catch the hand that reached for him, but now emptied of Power, his body was too weak to control.He felt the rush of air against his body as he plunged toward the courtyard.//Well, that's that...hope I killed the bad guy, cause in a moment I go 'splat'--//

A shadow fell across him, higher in the air, and he forced his head up--a human, male form, only a little smaller than his own--"Heero!You are an IDIOT!What the hell are you--"

Then his words broke off as shadow and body both...changed.

Wings burst forth from Heero's shoulders, tearing through bone and skin, his blood raining down on Duo and spattering his bare skin.He reached out his hand as they unfurled, shedding feathers of white and pale blue and a shimmery almost-gold.He caught Duo's arm, slowing the long-haired boy's too-rapid descent, and bore him easily to the ground.

"Holy shit," Duo whispered, when he could breathe enough to find his voice again."I didn't remember /that/--why didn't you tell me--"

"Ssh.It wasn't time yet," Heero answered, a blush tinting his cheeks, silencing Duo's protests with a quick kiss."Now you know why Iwouldn't let you take my shirt off."

"Well now I know," Duo said firmly, "and now when this is over I get to."

"When this is over," Heero promised, "you can do anything you want to me.But we have to end it first."

Duo nodded agreement, struggling to his feet."Dekim--Heero, what the hell is he?What was he talking about?Is he like us?"

"No," Heero answered."He's a demon, Duo.I don't have time to tell you the whole story right now."

Duo grinned."Back to the battlefield, huh?"

Heero rolled his eyes."One thingfirst.No more fighting for you til you put clothes on, lover."

Duo glanced down at his body, and the tattered shreds of cloth still dangling from him in places."Huh.That never happened before."

Before Heero could answer, before Duo could ponder the dissolution of his clothing any further, their attention was caught by a sharp cry from across the courtyard.Dekim was struggling to his feet--and a few yards from him stood Sylvia, her sword naked in her hands, her eyes blazing with ill-contained fury.

"Enough, demon!" she challenged."You want to finish this?Come then, and fight me!"

****


	14. Once More Unto the Breach, Dear Friends

NIOBE'S VIOLETS

NIOBE'S VIOLETS

by Ashura Nagisa

DEDICATION:For Dan, for his 1x2 School fic contest.

DISCLAIMERS:The usual.I don't own any of the characters, names or places from GW, I've just warped them.

WARNINGS: Yaoi (3x4, 1x2), Yuri (HxC, RxD)

ARCHIVE:Desolation Angels (http://www.dreamwater.net/ashura)

AUTHOR'S NOTES:AU, Humour, Drama.Almost finished...we're into the homestretch now.Thanks to everybody who's offered feedback on this, or even let me know they're reading it!Not as many answers in this one, just setting things up for the finale!

****************

Chapter Fourteen:Once More Unto the Breach, Dear Friends

****************

Dekim Barton drew himself to his feet, gathering dark robes around his gaunt, leathery body.His visage more resembled demon than human now, and it was easy to tell what he really was.His eyes blazed crimson as he faced down the furious Sylvia and her glowing sword."Your challenge," he declared grandly, "is refused."

A wordless growl burst from Sylvia's lips as she advanced."Then I'm not challenging you," she snarled."This isn't a duel, demon, or a challenge to a fair fight--it's just getting you out of the way before you hurt any of them."

"My dear prophetess," the demon laughed, "whatever makes you think you can?Every time we've ever fought, you and I, you've lost."His gaze darkened, his mouth twisting with sadistic rage."What will it take for you to learn your lesson?To be forced to watch once again while I eliminate them all, turn them against each other, use them as the instruments of their own destruction?"

"Over my dead body," the slender oracle snapped.She made her way forward, expert swings of the serpent-hilted sword clearing her path of golems.The courtyard grass was already thick and sticky with blood and the ochre that fallen humans leave behind, and Sylvia's bare feet and the hem of her white robe were stained with it.Her cloak had been long since abandoned--Heero spotted it crumpled in a heap, and hurried Duo in that direction, finally grabbing the garment and wrapping it around his lover.

Flame burst around them as an exhausted Wufei staggered past, his fingers wrapped tight around the hilt of an antique broadsword.He nodded to them with no more than mild curiosity--his goal was Sylvia and the demon she faced."Stay back," he directed as he passed."You must stay safe--I will guard her."

"Like hell," Duo grumbled under his breath, wrapping the crimson cloak tighter around himself and slogging along through the grass behind the firestarter."We're all in this together now, and if I'm gonna be some secret weapon--"

"You already were," Heero corrected, but didn't try to stop him--rather he glided along next to him, his unfurled wings lifting him just enough aloft to keep him from having to step in the blood-saturated grass."But he's not the only problem--where's Dermail?And Tsuberov?We've got them to deal with too...."

Duo paused to scan the grounds for the others.Hilde had found a machete in the gardening shed and was cutting a swath in the horde of dead-eyed golems.At first, she'd been gleefully shouting battle-cries--and gloating in the fact that her wounds mended themselves as fast as she received them--but now weariness had set in and her excited adrenaline rush had given way to the cold, dispassionate business of dealing death.Duo caught a glimpse of her deep blue eyes, and they were so much older than he remembered them--her memories were swelling as well, it was they who swung the blade like an extension of her arm, and who knew just where to step out of the way as the bodies collapsed without the need to watch them fall.

Lady Une, too, was felling golems, though it seemed she was trying to clear a path toward Sylvia and Wufei.She was rumpled but unwounded, and unarmed as well--she would reach out and touch the undead creatures and after a brief flare they would crumple to the ground.

He found Dermail then--he had cornered Relena, who faced him down with a defiant glare betrayed only by the light of fear in her blue eyes.His Power oozed from his fingers, a sickly red-orange glow reaching tentacle-like to encircle the girl's forearms, pinning her in mid-air and sinking, dissolving into her skin.He saw her bite down on her lip til blood trickled from the corner of her mouth, refusing to succumb to the impulse to scream.

Then from out of the writhing mass of golem flesh, a flash of blue jacket and long blonde hair--Dorothy forced her way through and slammed into her grandfather from the side, knocking him off-balance, and the crimson tendrils stretched and weakened.Duo could only imagine Dermail said something to her--he saw her lips move, saw her shake her head almost sadly as she raised her hand.Lightning crackled in her palm, white-hot and blinding, wrapped around her fingers and licked down the length of her arm.She released it then and it /leapt/, diving into Dermail's body, wracking his form with its force--he shook, sizzled, suddenly rigid and just as abruptly limp again, hovering over the sodden ground until at last the shock faded and he crumpled, smoke still wisping from the membrane of his wide frightened eyes.

*****

Sally felt the surge of Power even from the confines of her infirmary--it boiled in her blood, lit up as if the entire garden had awakened and bloomed spontaneously into vivid, glorious life.The pulse of it pounded in weak human veins, breathing into her sensitive heart, leaving the fresh taste of rain and wild chaos on her tongue.And inside it she could feel the faint aura that was Zechs, enrapt, joyful, determined.//He's going to need me.//

Quatre still sat at the head of the cot, a silent sentry with the stains of undried tears glistening on his cheeks, staring fiercely down at the unconscious Catherine as if willing her to awaken.Noin still searched for Treize, her vision interrupted sporadically by images of the battle outside which she passed along dutifully.She felt Zechs' call as well--Sally saw her jerk upright at the first brush of Power, her azure eyes widening in surprise.

"I'll go to him," Sally said, before Noin could break her grip on the mirror she gazed into.Her friend nodded once, a flash of sorrow flickering across her face and vanishing into concentration as the clairvoyant turned once more to her task.If Quatre had noticed at all, he gave no sign of it, and Sally hurried outside.

She bypassed the courtyard completely--she already knew what was going on there, and that was not where she was needed.Zechs and his plants were keeping the attack from closing around the school, guarding the other side, and as long as he remained there, the battle would be contained.

Unfortunately he could only hold the garden until he ran out of blood.Sally was a healer, both of body and mind.She refused to lose a friend to this battle, to let him sacrifice himself as if he were a soldier.She had memories of a past life as well--Une had drawn them out of her long ago in a fit of loneliness, and she understood all of them far better than they suspected.And as long as she drew breath, she would not let any of them die again.

She found him then, kneeling at the root of the willow tree, struggling weakly to remain conscious as his blood leaked ever slower into the dirt his hands lay limp against.His skin was pale beneath his tan, and his glassy eyes barely shifted at her approach.

"I'm holding them," he said--his voice was strong but far away, as if it were only his spirit that spoke, disconnected from the body that housed it.

"You need me," she told him.

She rested her hand on his shoulder, releasing a trickle of her own Power into him.It strengthened him, anchored his buoyant soul to his more earthly form, and she felt his pulse rise and even beneath her fingers.His breath came stronger, and his fingers pressed harder into the dirt as the wounds on his palms slowly healed.He had given the earth enough blood--it was unnecessary now, with Sally at his shoulder pouring herself through him into the soil.

He leaned back to rest against her as his vision slowly began to clear.

****

Wake up.Wake up.Wake up.

Quatre was concentrating so hard he didn't immediately notice when the lavender-grey eyes flickered open at last, blinking rapidly with the sudden confusion of shared vision.One slender hand lifted, slowly, to brush a light caress across his cheek.

"Quatre...."

"Trowa?"It was too much to hope for--but while the voice was Cathy's, the inflection was not, and immediately after the word left his lips the Siren realised he hoped it /wasn't/ his lover, severed utterly from his body.

"He's in here too, yes."/That/ was Cathy.The hand dropped away, and she swung herself off the bed, pressing her fingers to her temple as if to clear it.

"But what about--where's his body then--"Quatre was worried, and more than a little confused.

Cathy shrugged."We couldn't find it...we'll hope Treize has it.Come on, Quatre, there's no time for this, we're under attack, remember?"She took only a moment longer to orient herself before striding out of the infirmary with Quatre in close pursuit.He waswrong, he realised--it wasn't completely Catherine, any more than the first whisper of his name had been completely Trowa.They had merged together again, become a single gestalt entity, closer than even they had ever been.

And Quatre, while he supposed he should be happy for them in some way, wanted his Trowa back.

They emerged in the courtyard in the midst of chaos.Tsuberov's flesh golems were everywhere--either moving about and attacking, or as inanimate corpses littering the ground, but in either case they managed to get in the way.Sylvia and Wufei confronted a glowing Dekim Barton in the ruins of a crumbled gable, and the others slowly made their way toward that centre.

A golem--a badly-sewn construct of human skin and bone, with a disturbingly young face and dead, empty eyes--swung at them with the only weapon that came to hand; a broken branch.The air lit in a flash of blue as Catherine/Trowa shielded effortlessly, and a flick of her wrist sent the creature catapulting backward.

"Somebody has to get rid of Tsuberov," the gestalt said simply."It's the only way to stop all these damn things."

"I don't want to leave you," Quatre shot back.His need to protect battled fiercely with the unhappy realisation that his own talent was all but useless against these soulless creatures.

"Quatre..." The lavender eyes softened, and he thought he caught a flash of green within them.He imagined in that instant that this was really Trowa, only borrowing another form the way he had done so many times."Please, love...we have to at least hold the school until Treize gets back.You're the one who can do this.If any of this is going to work out--if we're ever to be separate people again--we have to end this."

Reluctantly, Quatre nodded."He's hiding on the balcony, out of harm's way, so he can control the golems.Can you get me there?"

The gestalt nodded."Of course.And...I love you, Quatre.I always have."Even in Catherine's soft soprano voice, the Siren knew whose words those were.

"I love you too, Trowa," he whispered.And even as the words left his lips, the gestalt lifted a hand, and Quatre felt himself lifted into the air.//All right, Tsuberov.I'm coming for you.//


	15. Tears Shall Drown the Wind

Well, here it is

Well, here it is.The grand finale itself...I do hope it lives up to expectations.All that's left now is to tie up a few loose ends.(And sorry for taking so long to get this out...the end of the semester completely flatlined my brain...anyways.On with the fic.)Oh, and thanks to everybody who's given me feedback on this so far! This one's for you!

NIOBE'S VIOLETS

by Ashura Nagisa

DISCLAIMERS:The usual.I don't own any of the characters, names or places from GW, I've just warped them.

WARNINGS: Yaoi (3x4, 1x2), Yuri (HxC, RxD)

ARCHIVE:Desolation Angels (http://www.dreamwater.net/ashura)

**************

Chapter Fifteen:Tears May Drown the Wind

**************

The sodden grass squished under Duo's bare feet.It squelched with a thick liquid too warm for water, coating his skin to the ankles in blood like warpaint.The hem of the burgundy cloak trailed in it, the colour of dark dried blood itself, and he wrapped it tighter around his body.

Heero's arms wrapped around him firmly from behind, pinning his arms against his sides and bearing him up off the ground.There was a curious catch in the sigh that escaped his cracked lips, and his lover's breath warmed the side of his neck.

"I need my hands free," he said reluctantly, and he could feel Heero's nod against his cheek.

"I know, so will I, but let's get closer first," the angel answered, holding them just enough aloft to skim along the ground, to keep Duo's feet free of the blood-soaked grass and speed their progress through the battlefield.Short bursts of light showed Une's slower progress toward Sylvia and the demon, though Hilde was doing her best to clear the Lady a path.Her machete twisted out of a golem body and even as the creature fell it found another, slicing mercilessly through the animated things.They were sickly, hollow-eyed, their strength in numbers but not in strategy, for they were unintelligent puppets of the madman who had built them.

Duo watched Quatre lift into the air, though he didn't bother to question how, and float toward the only remaining balcony--the school itself was in shambles; his own burst of Power had left a pile of rubble where the east wing had once been.

"Treize is coming!He's on his way!"

The voice called Duo's attention backward--Noin's voice, as she pounded into the field, clearing her way with the revolver in her hands.But unlike the rest, she wasn't aiming for Sylvia--she made her way to where Dorothy had pulled a shaken Relena to her feet and now stood in front of her protectively, lightning crackling in her spread fingers.

"Relena," said Noin, "get to the garden if you can.You're needed there.Zechs needs you."

Dorothy looked about to protest as Relena slid her hand free, but a whisper from the watersprite forced a grim nod as she transferred protection of her lover.Noin's fingers wrapped loosely around Relena's arm as she fired again and led the girl away.

****

Gentle as Catherine was making an effort to be, Quatre decided he did not like floating through the air.He sunk his weight into his heels the moment his feet touched down on stone, reveling for a heartbeat or two in the security of solid floor beneath him--flimsy as that safety was, with the ancient walls still trembling from the force Duo had let loose on them.

Tsuberov did not seem to be aware of him.The necromancer stood proud and defiant on the ramparts, long blue robes billowing about his gaunt form, his arms crossed triumphantly across his chest.Stringy grey hair fell in matted clumps past his chin, blown into his face by the wind, his icy laughter echoing in the chill air like brittle glass.

Quatre wanted to push him.

"Aren't my darlings beautiful?" the old man asked querulously, and the Siren started--so he had been noticed, after all."My lovely, lovely children."He turned slowly, beaming at Quatre with a broad, beatific smile and a mad, wild gleam in his colourless eyes.

"Are you crazy?" Quatre demanded."Your 'children' aren't even alive!"

Tsuberov shrugged, nonchalant."Maybe I am crazy," he agreed, almost bemused."But oh, they are alive!Every drop of blood they consume, my beautiful boy, makes them more aware!They live, oh yes, because of the life they take--"

"Enough!!"Quatre launched himself at the mage before he could think better of it, before he could consider the consequences of an accident or misjudgment of distance that could send them both plummeting from the balcony.He slammed into Tsuberov, toppling them both onto the floor, digging his feet into the stone as they skittered toward the edge.He landed on top of the old man, but winded, and his advantage of position didn't last long--gaunt fingers seized a clump of his hair and yanked his head back.Oh, but it was difficult to concentrate--not only because his neck was bent at an angle that barely allowed him to breathe, but because of the thick whirl of the necromancer's emotions threatening to smother his sixth sense completely.

Tsuberov was very proud of his creations.He was also very, very mad.

"The blood is the life," he chanted seductively in Quatre's ear."My children are immortal, beautiful boy, and when you and all the Prophet's kin have fed us, I will be as well."

In the end he was only an old man after all.Through the fog in his brain Quatre jerked his elbow back into Tsuberov's rib and twisted out of his grasp, gasping desperately for breath.He had refused Une's request to awaken his older memory--all he had were /moments/, nightmarish glimpses into a past in which the only certain thing was that he had somehow failed.He had let Trowa down and destroyed him.He had let /himself/ down.

He would not--"I will NOT fail again!"The words burst forth, independent of his will and yet an extension of it--and Power came with it, flooding him, trembling in the air before him and crackling in the breeze that licked the necromancer's skin.

"You think that you're immortal, old man?" he demanded harshly.Anger fueled his voice; the old man flinched as the Siren's power raised boils on his skin and then burst them, blood and fluid lubricating his dry, crackled skin.

The Siren stalked forward, his fingers clenched, his pulse throbbing in his temple, the Power in his voice almost too thick to be controlled."Prove it," he continued, and Tsuberov shrank back in the face of his onslaught.

Quatre paused, far past the point of reason, or the strategy he was known for.Fury roared through his blood, coursed through his brain, rose with every heartbeat.He summoned it, called it from within the depths of his being, wrapped it in his tongue and then shot it--precisely directed, aimed like a bullet in a single spoken command:

"Fly."

****

Urgency flooded Relena's body as soon as she stepped into the garden--it sang through her feet, infiltrated her blood, exhorted her to run faster, /faster/.She'd always been able to feel it, but not like this--the heart and soul of nature, alive but in a world that never quite touched her own.But now the air was singing with it, and calling her, and she found herself compelled to answer.

She pounded down the path, through the trees, not questioning how she /knew/ somehow that Zechs would be at the pond, under the willow.She was just as unsurprised to see Sally there, her hand on the shaman's shoulder, both their faces pale and drawn and unfathomably tired.

"You need me," she panted as she skidded to a halt near them."Miss Noin says you need me."

Sally's blue eyes flickered open, and she nodded--slowly, wearily, as if she had no energy for anything else.Relena sank to her knees next to Zechs, closing her fingers over his hand where it was pressed into the dirt.She felt queasy, at first, then /changed/, as if she had been just a little out of sync with the universe and quite suddenly had been popped back into place.

A trickle of Power bled into her hand.It was unlike anything she'd ever felt--her Talent was a physical one, and while she'd felt the effects of others' mental manipulations before, she'd never been so intimately connected with it, or had it such a part of her.It was cool, refreshing, like spring water, but spring water so mineral-thick that it tingles the skin it touches.

And as Relena sank into the Power, the world around her faded away.

//A flash of blue eyes.The silky caress of long golden hair, and the gentle touch of fingers softer than anyone's fingers should have a right to be.Blue eyes, half-closed and shimmering with tears, droplets of water clinging to pale lashes like dewdrops on a blade of grass. 

"It's stupid."A soft voice, feminine and smooth and self-deprecating, thick with bitterness all directed at the speaker herself."I knew he was engaged, Cyane, I /knew/--but I couldn't help myself, I swear I couldn't.I loved him anyway.I knew it would come to nothing, and yet--"

"It hurts anyway," she heard herself say--soothing, comforting, possessed by the need to watch those clinging tears evaporate into insubstantial mist."I know, it hurts anyway."

Those graceful fingers lacing limply into hers."I'm sorry.You're supposed to be celebrating your brother's wedding and here I am crying all over you."

"No, it's all right."Cyane lifted those fingers to her face, pressing them gently to her cheek."I'd rather--I'd rather be with you."

The startled widening of vivid blue eyes--the catch of tears thick in the voice that replied."I--"

"Someday," Cyane offered softly, "if you heal from loving the brother--perhaps the sister will do?"//

****

Reluctantly, Heero released his hold on Duo.Chaos was no longer adequate to describe the scene--he had seen the silhouette that was Quatre tackle Tsuberov atop the balcony, and the golems had lost any semblance of order.Wufei and Sylvia--as well as Hilde, Une and Noin, a little further off--had their hands to full trying to fend the creatures off to pay proper heed to the demon Dekim, and they were likely to need all and any help the others could offer.Catherine, looking winded, alternated between shielding against the golems and throwing them backward, but the gestalt's energy was flagging, and Dorothy joined her with a grim frown and a burst of lightning.

Duo hit the ground running, ignoring the slime of battle coating his feet and seeping into the ground.He knocked aside two golems with quick spurts of Power, but the hollowness inside him warned his reserves were almost depleted.

"You again!"Dekim, it seemed, could not decide whether to look pleased or annoyed."It seems--" He broke off, his gaze flickering to some spot high in the air and well behind Duo's shoulder.Whatever he saw could not have pleased him--the hiss that escaped his reptilian lips was its own sort of eloquence.This is all going to be finished, it said, and it's going to be finished /now/.He raised his hand, almost too quick for Duo to see, let alone react, and let loose an eruption of Power so heavy he could /see/ it--and yet Time had decided not to follow its own rules, because for all that he could watch it slam toward him he couldn't seem to move fast enough out of the way--

Something warm and solid crashed into him, knocking him away.He stumbled, his arms windmilling as he struggled for equilibrium and failed, tumbling onto the ground.His eyes widened, blurred suddenly by the suspicious sting of tears, his mouth opened in an O of disbelief as he identified the thing that had knocked him away:Arms.Legs.Matted, tangled blonde hair and soft pale skin--and an unhealthy stain of blood blossoming over the white of her robe.

"Oh shit--oh shit--"Duo never quite noticed Wufei's scream of rage as the firestarter charged the demon, or Heero landing defiantly in front of Dekim, or the moment when the golems crashed to the ground in a jumble of inanimate limbs around the broken body of their creator.He dropped to his knees, easing Sylvia's head into his lap, tearing viciously at the burgundy cloak in a vain attempt to stem the flow of blood.

"Idiot!You are such an idiot!"He pressed the cloth against her chest, but its only effect was to make him hyperconscious of the weak, defiant pulse of her heart against his hand."What the hell was that for, you stupid stupid girl--"He was no longer conscious of his own words, any more than he was of the scene around him or the crimson-tinted tears blazing trails down his cheeks.

Her fingers pressed warm and wet against his cheek, bringing him back into himself."Because otherwise he would have hit you, and you would have died," she murmured, her voice strong for all she could force it no louder than a whisper."I told you I would help you...."He didn't understand how she could be so calm--her breath was too ragged now, her pulse barely more than a flicker beneath Duo's desperate hands.She traced a slow line down his cheek--her fingers faltered, and dropped to her chest, and he watched in morbid fascination as she slid her hand downward, coating her fingertips in blood.Her eyes closed--it was a visible effort when she lifted her hand again, feebly drawing a pattern onto his cheek.

"Bin--remember--"

And in that single moment he /did/ remember--all the images that had remained hidden away in the deeper recesses of his memory with only the scent of rosemary to draw them out, all contained in a single smooth face, a single name.It was a sudden, acutely painful realisation--he /knew/ her, a relationship so deep it had to be a repressed remembrance or else an eternal ache, and a void no-one in his current lifetime had ever been able to fulfill.

He felt the exact moment when her hands dropped limply to her sides, when her glassy eyes unfocused and her head lolled against his chest, when the frail tremour of her heartbeat faded entirely away.He thought he felt the soft warmth of her last breath against his wrist, and he choked the words past the lump in his throat.

"Good-bye, Mother...."

He couldn't bring himself to let her go.He didn't need to--the others, freed from fighting golems, had fallen into a protective arc between him and Dekim.Pain was tangible, the air was thick with it, and the demon fed on it--no, was drunk with it, his laughter echoing in the courtyard and grating along sensitised nerves.The battlefield was ablaze, ringed with flames reaching into a sky thick with smoke and the stench of death.

Then through the smoke, a shadow appeared.It was a flicker at first, nothing more than a phantom of the senses, a trick of eyes determined to see aid where there was none.But it grew, and as it grew it took man's form, striding determined forward until even the spectres of steam around it, frightened, cleared away.

And Treize Khushrenada stepped onto the battlefield.

Power suffused him, surrounded him--it pooled in his hands, danced in his hair--he /glowed/ with it, its light cutting through the dust and fog and smoke that filled the air.The demon sensed a challenge and almost reluctantly turned to face him, bony digits clawing at the air.But when Treize spoke, it was not defiance that coloured his voice but a profound, ancient exhaustion.

"Enough," he said simply."This has to end."

He didn't even give the demon a chance to respond.He brought his hands together and light exploded from them, radiating outward in a blinding halo.The light was everywhere--the very air sang with it, the skin hummed with it, it rained from the sky and burst from the ground, it infused everything and burnt everything away--

And slowly, at last, it faded, leaving another charred place on the battlefield and a small collection of survivors, blinking as they waited for their vision to return, and shaking their heads from the ringing of their ears.

They began to move again at last.Lady Une, her cheeks as streaked with tears as Duo's, lifted Sylvia's limp body from his lap and into her arms; Wufei followed her as she bore it away, his eyes fixed firmly on the ground at his feet.Catherine-Trowa seemed torn between throwing its arms around Hilde and racing immediately to comfort Quatre, who huddled against the shattered wall hiding his face in his knees, but somehow they all three finally ended up holding onto each other desperately.Noin sprinted for the garden, with Dorothy close on her heels.

And Duo, stunned, just buried his head in Heero's shoulder, gasping for ragged breath, as his lover's arms and wings enfolded him.

****

No, we're not /quite/ done yet...!


	16. Our Revels Now Are Ended

It's all done

It's all done!!Sorry this took so long--I meant to have it out last week, right after the last chapter, but real life got in the way.Just a short little epilogue to wrap things up, and an appendix to explain all the minutia on theoff-chance anyone is actually interested. 

Thanks for sticking with this so long--it's been fun!

Ashura

*****

NIOBE'S VIOLETS

by Ashura Nagisa

DEDICATION:For Dan, for his 1x2 School fic contest.

DISCLAIMERS:The usual.I don't own any of the characters, names or places from GW, I've just warped them.

WARNINGS: Yaoi (3x4, 1x2), Yuri (HxC, RxD)

ARCHIVE:Desolation Angels (http://www.dreamwater.net/ashura)

AUTHOR'S NOTES:AU, Humour, Drama.More notes at the bottom...just like yoghurt.

************

Epilogue:Our Revels Now Are Ended

************

"Is this really going to work?"Quatre asked nervously.He was perched birdlike on the edge of the infirmary cot, bony arms folded tight across his chest, nibbling absently on his chapped lower lip.Trowa's body lay on the cot itself, still trapped in Mariemaya's shape, empty of spirit or consciousness but still breathing--that was comforting in itself, for it meant the body still functioned despite the absence of its owner, and there was at least something for Trowa to return to.

If he chose to return.That was what Quatre was there for.Treize and Zechs had set up the room and the twins' bodies in the way they claimed bestallowed for the flow of consciousness and energy.All that remained, if Trowa was inclined to split from Catherine again, was to guide him back into his own body.

Zechs, at the foot of one bed, began a low chant.Quatre's fingers wrapped tight around his lover's tiny pale hand, gripping instinctively til the girlish fingers were in danger of darkening with loss of circulation.

"Please, Trowa," he whispered."Please come back to me."

****

Whole.Eternal, brilliant, /complete/--he had not felt this way in almost longer than he could remember.Flashes of memory caressed his battered mind and then were gone--some were his own, some were not; he was no longer a single entity limited to the confines of his own consciousness.

Nirvana, then?

//This feels right.//The words themselves were an experiment, an exercise in the delicate touch of the mind, of his to another's, a test of the link that had once trickled between them and now encompassed them.

Yes, she agreed--not a word but a swell of affirmation, of understanding without the need for language.They could remain forever thus, joined, eternal--

//Please come back to me.//The voice belonged to neither of them, it sliced through the ether as clean as a sword, quivering with passion that bordered on despair.It left a hole in its wake; an empty void of feeling imbued with desperation that sent ripples along his ethereal skin.

//I....//

She swirled, covering the empty place, patching the hole--//Did you forget?// she asked, disapproval in her thoughts.

//I....//He could not remember.

He felt her push against him, gentle and insistent.//You should go.//Hesitant at first, he wavered, unsure, and when she nudged again he flowed away from her.//Go on, love.Wake up.//

He blinked, blinded by the sudden flood of light into his unused eyes.His felt his body stretch, elongate, shedding the uncomfortable lines of someone else's shape and melting back into the form he knew was his own.

And on the edge of the bed, Quatre watched the transformation with wide, hopeful eyes."Trowa!"he cried--the name was almost a sob, and the Siren threw his arms desperately around his lover and held him tight.Trowa's arms lifted slowly, rubbing weakly at his shoulders.

They were still in the same position when the Lady Une eased open the door to call them to the garden."Come," she beckoned. The school was gathering there to lay their ancient battle--and Sylvia Noventa--to final rest.

****

**One Year Later....**

"Did you see did you see did you see?"All the air was knocked from Duo's lungs as he found himself tossed backward into the wall, a beaming Hilde laughing giddily and dangling from around his neck. "It's finally official!The school's officially under the control of Mr. Treize and Winner Enterprises!There's no /way/ anybody can take it away from us now!"

Duo would have laughed with her, had he been able to breathe."All right, all right, get off," Heero grumbled good-naturedly, delicately extracting his boyfriend from his section-mate's evil clutches."Catherine, come control your pet!"

Hilde stuck her tongue out at him and dropped to her feet."Just for that I shouldn't invite you, even though that's why I was looking for you!" she threatened."But I will anyway.We're going out to get some ice cream and celebrate--want to come?"

Heero turned a little pink around the edges, and Duo shook his head, grinning broadly."Actually we were just about to go for a walk," he explained, pretending not to notice Hilde's knowing smile."You go on without us."

The dark-haired imp just shrugged."Suit yourself."She reached for Catherine's hand as the taller girl approached and dragged her off toward the door."They're not coming...they're going for a /walk/," she said meaningfully, and both girls' giggles echoed in the hallway long after they had vanished.

Heero slid his hand into Duo's, tugging gently."Shall we?"The long-haired boy nodded, squeezing the strong, slender fingers laced through his own, sneaking a glance at his love from the corner of one eye.Heero had changed in the past year--he smiled more now, contentment shining in his deep blue eyes.He had grown, too; he was taller than Duo now, though still delicate of build, and feminine boyishness had begun the faintest trace of change to more mature lines.

Of course, they all had changed, and not just grown.They weren't hiding anymore, they weren't living in constant fear of discovery and exploitation--they were free, and the staff of St. Gabriel's as well as the students thrived on it.

They walked in silence until they reached the garden.A year before, they had buried Sylvia beneath the old willow tree, and all through the fall and winter the ground had refused to settle or yield up anything more than rocks and frozen soil.Then spring had come--the sun melted away the snow, the air sang with life and the eternity of nature's revolution.And as the last vestiges of fading winter dissipated into the warm April air, the garden had begun to blossom.

It was white now--carpeted with lilies, unplanted and unplanned, flooding the garden and blanketing the groundwith soft pale petals.The sight left Duo breathless every time he crested the hill above the pond and gazed down on it, and this time he couldn't resist--he let out a joyful yell and launched himself down the hill, still clutching Heero's hand.For a moment, they flew--then Heero laughed and let them tumble, finally rolling to a stop in a giggling heap amid the flowers.

"So what was it you wanted to show me?" the seraph asked, propping his chin on his hand, peering down at his lover in anticipation.

Duo laughed."More than one thing," he purred suggestively, most of the seductive effect lost by his wriggling as he fumbled for a folded piece of paper in his pocket."Take a look.I'm now officially and legally Iria's responsibility."He passed the note to Heero and let his head fall back into the grass, a long, satisfied sigh leaving his lips."It's probably pathetic, I know, but it's a nice feeling...having somebody want me."

"/I/ want you," Heero protested, punctuating his claim by trailing a finger lightly down the length of Duo's side.

"That's different," Duo responded, twitching away from the touch--"I love you, but that tickles, knock it off."

"But I'm serious."Heero said.He obligingly lifted his hand, rolling above Duo and propping himself up on his hands."Oh, I'm happy for you, I don't mean I'm not.But I'd take care of you, you know, even if Iria didn't."

"I know you would."Duo reached for his lover and pulled him down, wrapping his arms tight around the seraph's neck, melding lips in wordless confirmation of the bond they'd undergone so much for."You don't have anything left to prove, Heero.I'm alive, you're mortal--we're going to be together forever."A tentative giggle against the other's cheek as he added, "We've earned it."

"Then let's celebrate it," Heero agreed, laughing til he smothered it in another kiss, and then there was no more need for conversation--the two boys shared promises too deep for mere words, reaching for each other, half-buried in the soft white petals of blooming lilies.

//Feel it.//

//Become it.//

//We are one--and we are eternal.//

****

~Owari~

*****************

**The Bits Left Over**

**(Appendix to Niobe's Violets)**

The World

The Characters (incl. past lives)

Symbolism & Shakespeare References

Thanks and Credits

Final Note

**The World**

The world of Niobe's Violets is not a happy place.It has a post-apocalyptic feel despite the fact there's been no apocalypse--merely the decay of over-industrialisation and technology developed and abused without restraint.The creation of the Newtypes set humanity on edge, and made them bitter and distrustful of anyone who might have 'powers' like those the students exhibit.The original Newtypes were enhanced test-tube children, raised in a completely controlled environment and studied in a variety of experiements that far surpassed 'abuse.'The St. Gabriel school was originally meant as a sanctuary, but Romafeller soon came to claim the price of their silence.

As for the "old world" of the characters' past lives...the year is really irrelevent.It's a fantasy-type world, where cultures mingle far more than they did in our own, and time is not necessarily consistent.I think Cassandra and her children lived somewhere on the northern coastof the Mediterranean.The Sanq kingdom would have been further north, though not so far it couldn't be reached, and Arbaa's lands would have been just south of the same Sea.

**Characters (and the Past Revealed)**

_Heero Yuy_

Heero was listed as an "L-1" talent:physical mutations only.Hilde explained that he had "exceptional strength," because she, like the rest of the school, was unaware of his real ability--wings.He kept them hidden from everyone but Treize and Sally, who had first 'discovered' him, though much later he confided in Sylvia.

Heero is the only one of the "good"characters who has not been reincarnated.He was an angel.His responsibilities, at various times, included helping dying souls pass over to the afterlife, playing guardian to wayward children, and preserving the beauty of Creation.The young Bin a-k'San originally caught his attention during the second, and captured his heart in the third.Heero had watched Bin grow since childhood, and realised finally that he loved him.His "fall from grace" wasn't really--it was just a fall.Angels have free will as well as mortals--Heero has the choice, he can give up his immortality and power to live with Bin as a human, and he does.Bin finds him lying in the field and helps him home, where his mother Cassandra recognises him for what he is and takes him in.Heero courts Bin til the boy falls in love with him.

Enter one Evil Demon Dekim, who's had it out for Cassandra for ages.It was originally neither Bin nor Heero he was after, except as they were connected to Cassandra--he wanted to destroy her and everything related to her.When Bin suffocated from smoke inhalation and died in Heero's arms on thefloor of their home, Heero did the only thing that remained him:he prayed.He asked for a second chance, to be allowed to wait for Bin to be born again and return to him so they could enjoy the life he'd fallen for.His prayer was granted, and Heero wandered the world as an immortal for a very, very long time.It was Une who first spotted him, and informed Treize.Heero had forgotten almost everything; he had forged an identity that even he believed.Just before Treize found him, he tried to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge--but being immortal, he didn't die.Treize took him back to Sally, who healed him and discovered his wings.They progressed slowly with Heero from there, and hedidn't come fully back to himself until after meeting Duo.

_Relena Darlien _

Relena's connection to the others is more distant.In her current incarnation, she's no relation to any of them, but rather the younger daughter of a prominent politician who sends her to Romafeller in order to hide her away--he doesn't want the publicity of a child with webbed feet and gills.As an L-1, her power is limited to the physical.(The demonstration with Wufei in the talent show, by the way, was purely orchestrated; she was /not/ actually calling water from the air.)

Her previous name, though given only briefly in the story, is Cyane.(The name is taken from a naiad, a Greek water-spirit.)She was half-naiad herself, the illegitimate daughter of a king and his supernatural lover.Were it not for her loyalty to her elder brother and his family, Cyane would probably never have been involved at all.

_Hilde Schbeiker _

Hilde first stepped into this story and took off with it--she's the driving force behind the first several chapters, and behind Duo's quick assimilation into the school.She demands attention--she's well-known through the school for her pranks, she talks incessantly, even her demonstrations of her Talent are geared toward performance.Hilde's father and stepmother, who are mentioned but never seen, are plain middle-class folk, unlike many of the students, who are connected in some way to Romafeller.As a child her Talent was impossible to ignore, and it frightened her parents, who searched actively--if discreetly--for a "safe place" to put her out of the way until she was grown.Her father still feels that it must somehow be his fault that his daughter is a mutant, so he feels the obligation to care for all her more mundane needs--he pays for her to attent St Gabriel's, he makes sure she has enough clothes and books and ways to keep herself entertained--he just has a hard time thinking of her as real, or as reconciling her with the little girl he once loved, so he tries to put her out of his mind.Though she pretends not to, Hilde feels hisemotional abandonment,and seeks constant reassurance from the people she now considers family that they think of her and love her.

Hilde is very, very old.Her former incarnation was Kara a-k'San, Cassandra's only daughter and youngest child, but even before that she had been alive as the spirit of a northern warrior-queen named Bryn.(Both these names are taken from Norse Valkyries.)When Une calls up Hilde's past life memories, it's Kara who haunts her dreams with images of Bin and Trey-ti, but in battle in the courtyard it is the older, dormant Bryn who guides her body through the fight.Strangely enough, it's also Bryn who Sylvia saw in her painting--the warrior-queen's death on the battlefield.Kara herself was killed outright by one of Dekim's minions; he snapped her neck and left her for Bin to find. 

_Duo Maxwell _

Like his counterpart in the original series, Duo grew up on the streets and took his last name from the orphanage that raised him.No mobile suits destroyed it this time; Maxwell Church Children's Home fell instead to the mundane guillotine of poor funding and lack of public interest.Duo moved between street corners and homeless shelters, always putting off the thought of "what would his life become" because it was too hopeless a prospect to consider.He had no way of getting off the streets and not much chance of a long life if he remained on them.He was a thief and a beggar, and if left there much longer would probably have become a prostitute and drug addict as well.Fortunately, his power erupted in the right time and place for Iria Winner to find him and sponsor him at St. Gabriel's. 

Duo in this story does lack some of the attitude and manic banter that the series gives him--that seems to be Hilde's domain instead.The reason for this is the school itself--in the space of a few days, he discovers he has what is essentially a "magic power,"and is thrust into a brand new environment where not only does everyone else have similar talents and accepts them without question (think how odd Cathy's constant "passing dishes" at mealtimes must be for him!), but all his simple, physical needs are provided for.He has as much to eat as he wants, a hot shower every morning (if he wakes up early enough!), and a standing order to get "whatever he needs to be comfortable" on Iria's tab.I think he does marvelously, he probably should have been in shock.

His power doesn't have a specific name--it's merely the manifestation of energy, and until he learns to control it is prompted by his emotions and subconscious mind.Even by the end, though he's learned some control, he can't harness it completely--he blows apart an entiresection of the roof fighting Dekim, enough that if it weren't for Heero's conveniently-revealed wings he'd go "splat" on the ground below!

Previously, he was Bin a-k'San.(Bin comes from the Latin for "two," a-k'San is a truncated version of what is essentially "child of Cassandra.")He was Cassandra's younger son and middle child, a beautiful creature who caught the attention of an angel.It was hard not to love Heero from the minute he fell, and even at the end Bin never did quite understand why his family was being targeted.He only knew that everything was falling apart, and he sought refuge in Heero, who in the end couldn't protect him.

Duo is reborn with the internal knowledge of his past self already implanted deep in his mind.His power is latent and unformed because he never had a use for it before--he had been too young, when he died, to have been completely taught how to use it.The fierce determination to protect himself, and Heero, is what brings it surging to the surface.Duo is a tougher soul than Bin ever was--this time, there will be no surrendering to death in his lover's arms.

_Trowa Barton Bloom_

Trowa and his twin sister Catherine were born to a pair of acrobats.They grew up in the circus, beginning as child clowns who passed out candy to passersby and finally growing into the knife-throwing acrobatics they became known for.The circus folk discovered their talents early on, and took care to protect the children from discovery and persecution.A circus, in the dark world of the story, was a place for idealists and vagabonds, and they looked after their own.

Neither of the twins ever learned who betrayed them, but Romafeller was determined enough to get their hands on the pair that they had no qualms about setting fire to the entire camp one night, killing the Bloom parents and fully half the performers in the process of kidnapping Trowa and Catherine.Dekim was ultimately behind it, he recognised Trey-ti's particular shattered spirit early on.The ten-year-old twins were delivered to Treize as wards of the school.

Trowa met Quatre at fourteen, when the latter entered St. Gabriel's, and in their words, "something clicked."Best friends at first sight, their relationship developed over the next two years into a deeper, unconquerable love.

Trowa's talents are, fittingly, three.Primarily, of course, is his shapeshifting:he's a doppelganger, he can take the form and voice of any other person he's seen.This alone makes him powerful enough, but he can also summon an energy shield centred around his body, and is telepathic with his twin.

In his old life, Trowa was Trey-ti a-k'San (Trey-ti: from the Russian for "third), Cassandra's oldest child.He was the most studious of them as well, and the only one who had a real grasp of his own power.His interest tended toward books and horses--until the day when a foreigner, a travelling Arab shiekh named Arbaa, stopped to ask him for directions.

Trey-ti and Arbaa fell instantly in love, and their affair had an intensity that bordered on obsession.Their longing for each other when they were apart was constant, and when Arbaa was unable to come and visit, he sent exotic gifts instead, which Trey-ti returned with reams of heartfelt love poems.

By the time Dekim captured Trey-ti, he was growing more artistic.Snapping his neck, as he'd done to Kara, was no longer enough--he wanted to destroy Cassandra and all her children, soul as well as body.Discovering that Arbaa had abandoned his home to search for his lover, Dekim lured the Siren to him using Trey-ti as bait.When Arbaa lost control, his scream shattered Dekim, Trey-ti and the entire surrounding area.Trey-ti's soul broke in two, and he was reborn as the twins.

_Catherine Bloom_

Cathy's history is tied entirely to Trowa's.She really only departs from him as a character after the twins are taken to St. Gabriel's and she begins "losing" her brother to Quatre.After an extended period of adolescant pouting, she finally warmed up to the idea--besides, it takes a lot of effort to dislike Quatre.

Smart, kind-hearted (despite attempts to hide the fact) and acid-tongued, she found herself again in Hilde.It was like instant recognition for Cathy, though it took a lot of persistance and courting before she finally turned a partner-in-crime into a lover.

Her loyalties are split, but the twins long since came to terms with this division.They're a part of each other, and remain so, but they accept each other's devotion to Quatre and Hilde as healthy and necessary for both of them.Still, they're connected in a way no-one else is, and when Trowa's soul is chased out of his body, it's almost instinct for the two to merge.

Cathy's primary talent is a strong form of telekinesis--it's not just little things like notes and pencils she can move.She has the capability to lift a person (like sending Quatre to Tsuberov) or a number of smaller things at once, the way she's always sending the dishes flying about at mealtimes.She's also telepathic with Trowa.

_Quatre Raberba Winner_

Quatre was sent to St. Gabriel's at fourteen because his sister Iria felt she could no longer protect him.Iria was a college friend of Noin and Sally; she had followed their work and often funded it.By the time Quatre was sent to them, she felt she could trust he would be safe from Romafeller's influences.

At first Quatre himself was extremely unhappy with the arrangment. Until that time he'd been homeschooled and essentially allowed to hole up at home without any real responsibility; now he was being pushed out of his comfort zone and into an entirely new world.Fortunately, this new world had Trowa--it didn't take more than an afternoon for the Siren's attitude toward St. Gabriel's to change completely.

His power is to "sense emotions and manipulate them through soundwaves," which would make him incredibly useful to Romafeller as well.Fortunately for the home team, even they don't realise how incredibly potent Quatre's talent actually is--they underestimate him. Their mistake.

His previous incarnation, Arbaa, was hailed as a miracle from birth. His father was the shiekh of an Arab Bedouin tribe, and when his wife gave birth to a child who, by virtue of blonde pale colouring, could not possibly have been his own, he took the easiest way out--rather than accusing his wife of having an affair, he said that she must have been visited by the gods, and the child was a manifestation of her will.And perhaps he was--certainly anyone who might have seen fit to dispute the legitimacy of this claim was soon swayed by the almost-tangible power in the child Arbaa's voice.In time before he would be needed to succeed his father, he left on a journey to "see the world."What he found was Trey-ti--the rest has already been explained.

_Wufei Chang_

Wufei was one of the St. Gabriel Institute's original two students (the other, not surprisingly, was Sylvia Noventa).Romafeller's methods of acquisition were less violent with Wufei than with the Bloom twins--they essentially bought him from his family, who could not afford to keep him, let alone protect him.If Wufei felt betrayed by his family, time healed him of it, and he simply found a new clan in the staff and students of his school.His primary loyalty, though subtle, was always to Sylvia, who he had known since childhood--while he shared a bond with her, that of two children locked away from the world, he also felt responsible for protecting her.

His previous life ran paralell to his current one.He was Long Diwu ("Fifth Dragon"), a half-dragon half-human abandoned by his family as an aberration and adopted as a ward of Decitre Khushrenada.He was desperately in love with his foster-sister Cassandra, but never courted her--he believed himself unworthy of her, even though he was the only man to consistently protect and care for her and her children.This was the weakness the demon Dekim finally exploited against him; Diwu cracked under the demon's mental manipulations and caused the firestorm that took Bin's life.Realising what he'd done, he called it down on himself and burnt to death.

All Wufei remembered of his past lifeat first was that he had failed--he was reborn with the knowledge, and it haunted him throughout his life.It was Sylvia who told him his name, and when Une awoke the remainder of his memories, he vowed never to let his family fall again.

_Dorothy Catalonia_

Dorothy's talent was listed as L-Zero:unclassifiable.This is because it took on so many forms.Hers was, in a sense, the manipulation of electrical energy.Experimentation found many uses:she could interface directly with a computer (think "Johnny Mneumonic" or a Shadowrun Decker, only without having to be jacked in), cause shorts and blown fuses and power surges, run her laptop without need for a battery, and by the end, shoot lightning from her fingers.As if that weren't enough, she had an eidetic memory that could not only remember the most minute details of everything she saw or heard, but compute complicated equations in her head faster than even the most advanced calculators.Not surprisingly, Romafeller and her grandfather, Duke Dermail, had been grooming her for their ranks since childhood.

They might have succeeded if they had kept her away from St. Gabriel's.In her past life, Dorothy (called Allison at the time) was sent by her family as a spy to infiltrate the royal family of a small kingdom called Sanq.The trouble with sending teenagers for this sort of work, of course, is that their emotions tend to interfere:Allison fell in love with first the handsome and charming Prince Milliardo, and later his younger sister Cyane--and so devoted she remained that she never returned to her family.Relena has the same effect on Dorothy in this life that Cyane did on Allison long ago, and Duke Dermail lost his chief potential operative.The test of loyalty was absolute--when Dermail threatened Relena's life, Dorothy fried him with a lightning bolt.

_Sylvia Noventa_

Sylvia infiltrated this story more than even I expected her to--she was only a face in the shadows at first, another characteristic of the oddity of the school Duo found himself in.And as the story unfolded, she revealed that she was really the centre and pivot of it, and that all the events (explained or not) could be traced back to her.Influences?She was Cassandra of Troy and Shakespeare's Ophelia, given to symbolism in flowers and snippets of unidentifiable prophecy.

Cassandra (probably not actually Cassandra of Troy, unless one wants to play with the family tree, but possible) was the daughter of Decitre and Niobe; she was a Prophetess and a seer and in more mundane matters a farmer.The father of her three children remains her own secret--whoever he was she never married him, nor did he have any influence in the lives of Trey-ti, Bin or Kara.If they had any father figure at all it was Long Diwu, and he was too remote and formal to really fulfill the role properly.Cassandra made up for it--she was mother and father both, and strong enough for all of them.

Whatever Dekim's reasons for hating her, he was exactingly thorough in his revenge.He murdered her children, forced her parents into hiding, and tormented her extended family.After Bin's death--the last of her children to be killed--she tried to flee with Heero, but in the end she found she couldn't remain hidden.She slipped away from Heero and challenged Dekim to a duel in which he finally killed her.

For Sylvia, being reborn was like waking up from a long sleep.She never had any clear idea of who she was in either life--she had full knowledge of her previous self but no sense for when anything had actually happened, and when combined with the visions of her children and her prophecies, it's no wonder her family thought she was incurably insane.Her fatherwas a government official, and pulled strings to get her sent to St. Gabriel's isntead of a mental institution.She recognised Treize and Une as herparents immediately, but they didn't remember her--the same was true of Wufei, and she waffled between trying to build new relationships with people she already cared for, and shutting them out altogether.She was eternally haunted by visions that she couldn't quite explain.Her memories as well as her current knowledge were sporadic things, as if she travelled uncontrolled between worlds and times.

_Sally Po_

Sally was a doctor, a former college roommate of Lucrezia Noin, who recruited her for the Romafeller Institute because of her interest and research into Newtypes--Noin eventually found out her interest was brought on by her own Healing Talent, so she fit in perfectly.

Previously she was one of three sisters--Helena, the middle sister, the healer.(Name:Helena was a physician's daughter who had learned her father's trade in Shakespeare's _All's Well that Ends Well_.)She was also the only one Dekim left alone, in either incarnation--her power made him nervous, although as she never actively fights him, it remains unclear what might happen if she did.

_Zechs Merquise_

I don't really know why Zechs decided to be a shaman; he just did.Maybe I just liked the image of him shirtless with tribal tattoos.His ability is to "talk" to the natural world; he's a part of it much as Treize is part of the mystical and arcane.This probably partially forms his easygoing attitude, and of all the school's staff he's the easiest one for the students to confide in.

He doesn't remember anything of his past life until the end when he connects with Relena.He was Prince Milliardo Peacecraft of the Sanq kingdom, heir to the throne and husband of a holy-warrior named Lucia.It was through hiswife that he became the target of the demon--Lucia fought and lost, and Milliardo died attempting to avenge her.

_Lucrezia Noin_

Noin and Treize were the original founders of the St. Gabriel Institute, and the ones responsible for turning it into a haven out of Romafeller's control.Interest in the arcane brought them both into Oz, though they broke away from it later.Noin is a clairvoyant and clairaudiant; she sees and hears things happening far away and, on rarer occasions, at other points in time.This is how she finds most of the students, as well, by being perpetually in tune with events that might only seem out of the ordinary to most, yet to the trained would signal a Talent at work.Treize' nickname for her is "Lucia-bella;" he only meant it as a derivative of the longer "Lucrezia" and the idea that she was an "alarm bell" for the school, but it just shows the strength of Treize' subconscious at work.

Noin was the holy warrior Lucia, youngest sister of three (Niobe, Helena, Lucia--Une, Sally, Noin) and consort to the prince of the Sanq kingdom.She was the self-styled protector of the royal family, a knight in shining armour whose name was cheered in the streets.She fell at last in a duel with the demon Dekim.

She knows she's drawn to Zechs, but not until the very end (when she's scanning for Treize, and everything falls into place for her at last) does she realise why.At the same time she becomes aware of who Relena is, and sends the former princess to aid and lend power to her brother.

_Lady Une_

Treize essentially started the school for Une's sake.She worked with him in the Oz Special Committee until she was assigned to a task force sent to help GeneTech with their experiments.The atrocities being committed to the Newtype children depressed her almost to the point of suicide--when one of them died in the process of "research" and its tormented spirit remained behind to talk to her, she suffered a nervous breakdown that left her with multiple personalities.Une is a medium; her ability enables her to speak to the dead..

Previously her name was Niobe, and she was Cassandra's mother.She and Decitre were forced into hiding by Dekim, and she never forgave herself for outliving her daughter and gradchildren.She never explains quite when she becomes aware of everything; only that by the time Treize and the others need her, she's there and ready to surprise them all.(Niobe:a Greek myth about a woman who cried for her lost children, she was turned into a slab of stone but tears continued to fall from it.)

_Treize Khushrenada_

The shining star of Romafeller and the Oz Special Committee, Treize was assigned the task of running a school for "talented" children--Romafeller wanted to develop these talents for use, rather than experiment on them the way they did with the Newtypes.Perhaps they felt more discomfort at taking apart real born human children than artificially created ones; at any rate the students were to be protected--that is, until they decided Treize was a threat, that he was acting too independantly and encouraging the students to do the same.This prompted the decision to close down the school and bring the students into Romafeller's fold.

Treize himself is a warlock.He is ingrained with the energy that would becons idered "magic" in a more primitive time--he has access to a wealth of it, and total control over its manipulation.He seldom uses it in his role as a teacher; only when his daughter and his students are directly threatened does Treize haul out the big guns.

His chief weakness is Mariemaya.He may have loved her mother once, or it may have been an infatuation that was never given time to grow old--either way, Leia was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound shortly before the start of the St Gabriel project.Treize still harbours the suspicion that the death was not really self-inflicted, and that Romafeller engineered it to gain custudy of Mariemaya and control over him.

In his past life he was called Decitre (fiddling with the Latin for 'thirteen'); he was Niobe's husband and Cassandra's father.(With those two for parents, it's no wonder really that she turned out the way she did.) 

_Duke Dermail_

In charge of the Oz Special Committee and the chief public face of the Romafeller Foundation.Also Dorothy's grandfather and legal guardian.

_Tsuberov_

A necromancer who worked under the guise of science to create an army of flesh golems, soulless warriors that would fight in his place.By the time of his death he was quite mad, and convinced if the golems killed enough people he would become immortal himself.

_Dekim Barton_

The form taken by the demon Dekim in the current timeline.

**Symbolism**

Just a couple things that are important--there might be more that I haven't found yet, my stories have a way of growing like that on their own.

Flowers:

Violets=Faithfulness

Rosemary=Remembrance

Rue=Regret

Lilies=resurrection, peace

**Shakespeare References**

They were all over the place.Allthe chapter names are lines from Shakespeare, as is some of the stuff that comes out of Sylvia's mouth.I don't imagine anybody's all that interested in them specifically, if for some reason you do want to know where one comes from, just ask me.

**TheCredits!**

Gotta say thank you to some people here, forgive me if it sounds like I'm rehearsing for my Oscar acceptance later in life or something.*grin*But these folks deserve it, and I want to gush at them for a few minutes.

Thanks go to Dan Huron, for holding the school fic contest in the first place--it's quite possible I would have gone ahead with writing this anyway, but by no means guaranteed.So this is a lot his fault!Also to Lion, for giving consistently detailed feedback and more importantly drawing Sylvia's paintings!D, baby_pen and Saishi did some gorgeous illustrations as well (even though Saishi didn't realise that's what he was doing at the time!).Thanks to Hilary on general principle, for writing the ever-inspiring TSG and being so damn good that I feel compelled to work harder and harder in attempt to match her.And finally of course to everybody who ever left feedback, especially K-MD, Jay, Rhina, Raven, and the others whose messages occasionally consisted of more than threats on my life if I didn't write faster.*grin*(Not that I don't appreciate those, too!)

And no, no thanks go to the Academy at all!But my Muses should get a little credit.

**Author's Final Note**

There's something really gushy and involving about writing something this bloody /long/.This fic is over 200 pages at final count, and some 45,000 words.It's the longest thing I've ever written singlehandedly, so it's a bit of a milestone and I feel like I've accomplished something.On the other hand, I'm really sad to see it end.As you can see from the size of this appendix by itself, I got really, really involved.Even now I'm sure I've forgotten something, and can only remind myself that it can't possibly be that important, and to let the baby out of the nest already and move on to something else.I'd like to plan sidefics for this or something, but--well, the truth is it's pretty well-contained, all the cards have been played and there's not really anything else to say.The good guys won, true love conquered, and they all lived happily ever after.I hope you enjoyed the ride as much as I did.

"Our revels now are ended....

Yea, all that it inherit shall dissolve, 

And like this insubstantial pageant faded,

Leave not a rack behind.We are such stuff

as dreams are made on, and our little life

is rounded with a sleep."

-_The Tempest_, IV. i

-Ashura

**The Bits Left Over**

**(Appendix to Niobe's Violets)**

The World

The Characters (incl. past lives)

Symbolism & Shakespeare References

Thanks and Credits

Final Note

**The World**

The world of Niobe's Violets is not a happy place.It has a post-apocalyptic feel despite the fact there's been no apocalypse--merely the decay of over-industrialisation and technology developed and abused without restraint.The creation of the Newtypes set humanity on edge, and made them bitter and distrustful of anyone who might have 'powers' like those the students exhibit.The original Newtypes were enhanced test-tube children, raised in a completely controlled environment and studied in a variety of experiements that far surpassed 'abuse.'The St. Gabriel school was originally meant as a sanctuary, but Romafeller soon came to claim the price of their silence.

As for the "old world" of the characters' past lives...the year is really irrelevent.It's a fantasy-type world, where cultures mingle far more than they did in our own, and time is not necessarily consistent.I think Cassandra and her children lived somewhere on the northern coastof the Mediterranean.The Sanq kingdom would have been further north, though not so far it couldn't be reached, and Arbaa's lands would have been just south of the same Sea.

**Characters (and the Past Revealed)**

_Heero Yuy_

Heero was listed as an "L-1" talent:physical mutations only.Hilde explained that he had "exceptional strength," because she, like the rest of the school, was unaware of his real ability--wings.He kept them hidden from everyone but Treize and Sally, who had first 'discovered' him, though much later he confided in Sylvia.

Heero is the only one of the "good"characters who has not been reincarnated.He was an angel.His responsibilities, at various times, included helping dying souls pass over to the afterlife, playing guardian to wayward children, and preserving the beauty of Creation.The young Bin a-k'San originally caught his attention during the second, and captured his heart in the third.Heero had watched Bin grow since childhood, and realised finally that he loved him.His "fall from grace" wasn't really--it was just a fall.Angels have free will as well as mortals--Heero has the choice, he can give up his immortality and power to live with Bin as a human, and he does.Bin finds him lying in the field and helps him home, where his mother Cassandra recognises him for what he is and takes him in.Heero courts Bin til the boy falls in love with him.

Enter one Evil Demon Dekim, who's had it out for Cassandra for ages.It was originally neither Bin nor Heero he was after, except as they were connected to Cassandra--he wanted to destroy her and everything related to her.When Bin suffocated from smoke inhalation and died in Heero's arms on thefloor of their home, Heero did the only thing that remained him:he prayed.He asked for a second chance, to be allowed to wait for Bin to be born again and return to him so they could enjoy the life he'd fallen for.His prayer was granted, and Heero wandered the world as an immortal for a very, very long time.It was Une who first spotted him, and informed Treize.Heero had forgotten almost everything; he had forged an identity that even he believed.Just before Treize found him, he tried to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge--but being immortal, he didn't die.Treize took him back to Sally, who healed him and discovered his wings.They progressed slowly with Heero from there, and hedidn't come fully back to himself until after meeting Duo.

_Relena Darlien _

Relena's connection to the others is more distant.In her current incarnation, she's no relation to any of them, but rather the younger daughter of a prominent politician who sends her to Romafeller in order to hide her away--he doesn't want the publicity of a child with webbed feet and gills.As an L-1, her power is limited to the physical.(The demonstration with Wufei in the talent show, by the way, was purely orchestrated; she was /not/ actually calling water from the air.)

Her previous name, though given only briefly in the story, is Cyane.(The name is taken from a naiad, a Greek water-spirit.)She was half-naiad herself, the illegitimate daughter of a king and his supernatural lover.Were it not for her loyalty to her elder brother and his family, Cyane would probably never have been involved at all.

_Hilde Schbeiker _

Hilde first stepped into this story and took off with it--she's the driving force behind the first several chapters, and behind Duo's quick assimilation into the school.She demands attention--she's well-known through the school for her pranks, she talks incessantly, even her demonstrations of her Talent are geared toward performance.Hilde's father and stepmother, who are mentioned but never seen, are plain middle-class folk, unlike many of the students, who are connected in some way to Romafeller.As a child her Talent was impossible to ignore, and it frightened her parents, who searched actively--if discreetly--for a "safe place" to put her out of the way until she was grown.Her father still feels that it must somehow be his fault that his daughter is a mutant, so he feels the obligation to care for all her more mundane needs--he pays for her to attent St Gabriel's, he makes sure she has enough clothes and books and ways to keep herself entertained--he just has a hard time thinking of her as real, or as reconciling her with the little girl he once loved, so he tries to put her out of his mind.Though she pretends not to, Hilde feels hisemotional abandonment,and seeks constant reassurance from the people she now considers family that they think of her and love her.

Hilde is very, very old.Her former incarnation was Kara a-k'San, Cassandra's only daughter and youngest child, but even before that she had been alive as the spirit of a northern warrior-queen named Bryn.(Both these names are taken from Norse Valkyries.)When Une calls up Hilde's past life memories, it's Kara who haunts her dreams with images of Bin and Trey-ti, but in battle in the courtyard it is the older, dormant Bryn who guides her body through the fight.Strangely enough, it's also Bryn who Sylvia saw in her painting--the warrior-queen's death on the battlefield.Kara herself was killed outright by one of Dekim's minions; he snapped her neck and left her for Bin to find. 

_Duo Maxwell _

Like his counterpart in the original series, Duo grew up on the streets and took his last name from the orphanage that raised him.No mobile suits destroyed it this time; Maxwell Church Children's Home fell instead to the mundane guillotine of poor funding and lack of public interest.Duo moved between street corners and homeless shelters, always putting off the thought of "what would his life become" because it was too hopeless a prospect to consider.He had no way of getting off the streets and not much chance of a long life if he remained on them.He was a thief and a beggar, and if left there much longer would probably have become a prostitute and drug addict as well.Fortunately, his power erupted in the right time and place for Iria Winner to find him and sponsor him at St. Gabriel's.

Duo in this story does lack some of the attitude and manic banter that the series gives him--that seems to be Hilde's domain instead.The reason for this is the school itself--in the space of a few days, he discovers he has what is essentially a "magic power,"and is thrust into a brand new environment where not only does everyone else have similar talents and accepts them without question (think how odd Cathy's constant "passing dishes" at mealtimes must be for him!), but all his simple, physical needs are provided for.He has as much to eat as he wants, a hot shower every morning (if he wakes up early enough!), and a standing order to get "whatever he needs to be comfortable" on Iria's tab.I think he does marvelously, he probably should have been in shock.

His power doesn't have a specific name--it's merely the manifestation of energy, and until he learns to control it is prompted by his emotions and subconscious mind.Even by the end, though he's learned some control, he can't harness it completely--he blows apart an entiresection of the roof fighting Dekim, enough that if it weren't for Heero's conveniently-revealed wings he'd go "splat" on the ground below!

Previously, he was Bin a-k'San.(Bin comes from the Latin for "two," a-k'San is a truncated version of what is essentially "child of Cassandra.")He was Cassandra's younger son and middle child, a beautiful creature who caught the attention of an angel.It was hard not to love Heero from the minute he fell, and even at the end Bin never did quite understand why his family was being targeted.He only knew that everything was falling apart, and he sought refuge in Heero, who in the end couldn't protect him.

Duo is reborn with the internal knowledge of his past self already implanted deep in his mind.His power is latent and unformed because he never had a use for it before--he had been too young, when he died, to have been completely taught how to use it.The fierce determination to protect himself, and Heero, is what brings it surging to the surface.Duo is a tougher soul than Bin ever was--this time, there will be no surrendering to death in his lover's arms.

_Trowa Barton Bloom_

Trowa and his twin sister Catherine were born to a pair of acrobats.They grew up in the circus, beginning as child clowns who passed out candy to passersby and finally growing into the knife-throwing acrobatics they became known for.The circus folk discovered their talents early on, and took care to protect the children from discovery and persecution.A circus, in the dark world of the story, was a place for idealists and vagabonds, and they looked after their own.

Neither of the twins ever learned who betrayed them, but Romafeller was determined enough to get their hands on the pair that they had no qualms about setting fire to the entire camp one night, killing the Bloom parents and fully half the performers in the process of kidnapping Trowa and Catherine.Dekim was ultimately behind it, he recognised Trey-ti's particular shattered spirit early on.The ten-year-old twins were delivered to Treize as wards of the school.

Trowa met Quatre at fourteen, when the latter entered St. Gabriel's, and in their words, "something clicked."Best friends at first sight, their relationship developed over the next two years into a deeper, unconquerable love.

Trowa's talents are, fittingly, three.Primarily, of course, is his shapeshifting:he's a doppelganger, he can take the form and voice of any other person he's seen.This alone makes him powerful enough, but he can also summon an energy shield centred around his body, and is telepathic with his twin.

In his old life, Trowa was Trey-ti a-k'San (Trey-ti: from the Russian for "third), Cassandra's oldest child.He was the most studious of them as well, and the only one who had a real grasp of his own power.His interest tended toward books and horses--until the day when a foreigner, a travelling Arab shiekh named Arbaa, stopped to ask him for directions.

Trey-ti and Arbaa fell instantly in love, and their affair had an intensity that bordered on obsession.Their longing for each other when they were apart was constant, and when Arbaa was unable to come and visit, he sent exotic gifts instead, which Trey-ti returned with reams of heartfelt love poems.

By the time Dekim captured Trey-ti, he was growing more artistic.Snapping his neck, as he'd done to Kara, was no longer enough--he wanted to destroy Cassandra and all her children, soul as well as body.Discovering that Arbaa had abandoned his home to search for his lover, Dekim lured the Siren to him using Trey-ti as bait.When Arbaa lost control, his scream shattered Dekim, Trey-ti and the entire surrounding area.Trey-ti's soul broke in two, and he was reborn as the twins.

_Catherine Bloom_

Cathy's history is tied entirely to Trowa's.She really only departs from him as a character after the twins are taken to St. Gabriel's and she begins "losing" her brother to Quatre.After an extended period of adolescant pouting, she finally warmed up to the idea--besides, it takes a lot of effort to dislike Quatre.

Smart, kind-hearted (despite attempts to hide the fact) and acid-tongued, she found herself again in Hilde.It was like instant recognition for Cathy, though it took a lot of persistance and courting before she finally turned a partner-in-crime into a lover.

Her loyalties are split, but the twins long since came to terms with this division.They're a part of each other, and remain so, but they accept each other's devotion to Quatre and Hilde as healthy and necessary for both of them.Still, they're connected in a way no-one else is, and when Trowa's soul is chased out of his body, it's almost instinct for the two to merge.

Cathy's primary talent is a strong form of telekinesis--it's not just little things like notes and pencils she can move.She has the capability to lift a person (like sending Quatre to Tsuberov) or a number of smaller things at once, the way she's always sending the dishes flying about at mealtimes.She's also telepathic with Trowa.

_Quatre Raberba Winner_

Quatre was sent to St. Gabriel's at fourteen because his sister Iria felt she could no longer protect him.Iria was a college friend of Noin and Sally; she had followed their work and often funded it.By the time Quatre was sent to them, she felt she could trust he would be safe from Romafeller's influences.

At first Quatre himself was extremely unhappy with the arrangment. Until that time he'd been homeschooled and essentially allowed to hole up at home without any real responsibility; now he was being pushed out of his comfort zone and into an entirely new world.Fortunately, this new world had Trowa--it didn't take more than an afternoon for the Siren's attitude toward St. Gabriel's to change completely.

His power is to "sense emotions and manipulate them through soundwaves," which would make him incredibly useful to Romafeller as well.Fortunately for the home team, even they don't realise how incredibly potent Quatre's talent actually is--they underestimate him.Their mistake.

His previous incarnation, Arbaa, was hailed as a miracle from birth. His father was the shiekh of an Arab Bedouin tribe, and when his wife gave birth to a child who, by virtue of blonde pale colouring, could not possibly have been his own, he took the easiest way out--rather than accusing his wife of having an affair, he said that she must have been visited by the gods, and the child was a manifestation of her will.And perhaps he was--certainly anyone who might have seen fit to dispute the legitimacy of this claim was soon swayed by the almost-tangible power in the child Arbaa's voice.In time before he would be needed to succeed his father, he left on a journey to "see the world."What he found was Trey-ti--the rest has already been explained.

_Wufei Chang_

Wufei was one of the St. Gabriel Institute's original two students (the other, not surprisingly, was Sylvia Noventa).Romafeller's methods of acquisition were less violent with Wufei than with the Bloom twins--they essentially bought him from his family, who could not afford to keep him, let alone protect him.If Wufei felt betrayed by his family, time healed him of it, and he simply found a new clan in the staff and students of his school.His primary loyalty, though subtle, was always to Sylvia, who he had known since childhood--while he shared a bond with her, that of two children locked away from the world, he also felt responsible for protecting her.

His previous life ran paralell to his current one.He was Long Diwu ("Fifth Dragon"), a half-dragon half-human abandoned by his family as an aberration and adopted as a ward of Decitre Khushrenada.He was desperately in love with his foster-sister Cassandra, but never courted her--he believed himself unworthy of her, even though he was the only man to consistently protect and care for her and her children.This was the weakness the demon Dekim finally exploited against him; Diwu cracked under the demon's mental manipulations and caused the firestorm that took Bin's life.Realising what he'd done, he called it down on himself and burnt to death.

All Wufei remembered of his past lifeat first was that he had failed--he was reborn with the knowledge, and it haunted him throughout his life.It was Sylvia who told him his name, and when Une awoke the remainder of his memories, he vowed never to let his family fall again.

_Dorothy Catalonia_

Dorothy's talent was listed as L-Zero:unclassifiable.This is because it took on so many forms.Hers was, in a sense, the manipulation of electrical energy.Experimentation found many uses:she could interface directly with a computer (think "Johnny Mneumonic" or a Shadowrun Decker, only without having to be jacked in), cause shorts and blown fuses and power surges, run her laptop without need for a battery, and by the end, shoot lightning from her fingers.As if that weren't enough, she had an eidetic memory that could not only remember the most minute details of everything she saw or heard, but compute complicated equations in her head faster than even the most advanced calculators.Not surprisingly, Romafeller and her grandfather, Duke Dermail, had been grooming her for their ranks since childhood.

They might have succeeded if they had kept her away from St. Gabriel's.In her past life, Dorothy (called Allison at the time) was sent by her family as a spy to infiltrate the royal family of a small kingdom called Sanq.The trouble with sending teenagers for this sort of work, of course, is that their emotions tend to interfere:Allison fell in love with first the handsome and charming Prince Milliardo, and later his younger sister Cyane--and so devoted she remained that she never returned to her family.Relena has the same effect on Dorothy in this life that Cyane did on Allison long ago, and Duke Dermail lost his chief potential operative.The test of loyalty was absolute--when Dermail threatened Relena's life, Dorothy fried him with a lightning bolt.

_Sylvia Noventa_

Sylvia infiltrated this story more than even I expected her to--she was only a face in the shadows at first, another characteristic of the oddity of the school Duo found himself in.And as the story unfolded, she revealed that she was really the centre and pivot of it, and that all the events (explained or not) could be traced back to her.Influences?She was Cassandra of Troy and Shakespeare's Ophelia, given to symbolism in flowers and snippets of unidentifiable prophecy.

Cassandra (probably not actually Cassandra of Troy, unless one wants to play with the family tree, but possible) was the daughter of Decitre and Niobe; she was a Prophetess and a seer and in more mundane matters a farmer.The father of her three children remains her own secret--whoever he was she never married him, nor did he have any influence in the lives of Trey-ti, Bin or Kara.If they had any father figure at all it was Long Diwu, and he was too remote and formal to really fulfill the role properly.Cassandra made up for it--she was mother and father both, and strong enough for all of them.

Whatever Dekim's reasons for hating her, he was exactingly thorough in his revenge.He murdered her children, forced her parents into hiding, and tormented her extended family.After Bin's death--the last of her children to be killed--she tried to flee with Heero, but in the end she found she couldn't remain hidden.She slipped away from Heero and challenged Dekim to a duel in which he finally killed her.

For Sylvia, being reborn was like waking up from a long sleep.She never had any clear idea of who she was in either life--she had full knowledge of her previous self but no sense for when anything had actually happened, and when combined with the visions of her children and her prophecies, it's no wonder her family thought she was incurably insane.Her fatherwas a government official, and pulled strings to get her sent to St. Gabriel's isntead of a mental institution.She recognised Treize and Une as herparents immediately, but they didn't remember her--the same was true of Wufei, and she waffled between trying to build new relationships with people she already cared for, and shutting them out altogether.She was eternally haunted by visions that she couldn't quite explain.Her memories as well as her current knowledge were sporadic things, as if she travelled uncontrolled between worlds and times.

_Sally Po_

Sally was a doctor, a former college roommate of Lucrezia Noin, who recruited her for the Romafeller Institute because of her interest and research into Newtypes--Noin eventually found out her interest was brought on by her own Healing Talent, so she fit in perfectly.

Previously she was one of three sisters--Helena, the middle sister, the healer.(Name:Helena was a physician's daughter who had learned her father's trade in Shakespeare's _All's Well that Ends Well_.)She was also the only one Dekim left alone, in either incarnation--her power made him nervous, although as she never actively fights him, it remains unclear what might happen if she did.

_Zechs Merquise_

I don't really know why Zechs decided to be a shaman; he just did.Maybe I just liked the image of him shirtless with tribal tattoos.His ability is to "talk" to the natural world; he's a part of it much as Treize is part of the mystical and arcane.This probably partially forms his easygoing attitude, and of all the school's staff he's the easiest one for the students to confide in.

He doesn't remember anything of his past life until the end when he connects with Relena.He was Prince Milliardo Peacecraft of the Sanq kingdom, heir to the throne and husband of a holy-warrior named Lucia.It was through hiswife that he became the target of the demon--Lucia fought and lost, and Milliardo died attempting to avenge her.

_Lucrezia Noin_

Noin and Treize were the original founders of the St. Gabriel Institute, and the ones responsible for turning it into a haven out of Romafeller's control.Interest in the arcane brought them both into Oz, though they broke away from it later.Noin is a clairvoyant and clairaudiant; she sees and hears things happening far away and, on rarer occasions, at other points in time.This is how she finds most of the students, as well, by being perpetually in tune with events that might only seem out of the ordinary to most, yet to the trained would signal a Talent at work.Treize' nickname for her is "Lucia-bella;" he only meant it as a derivative of the longer "Lucrezia" and the idea that she was an "alarm bell" for the school, but it just shows the strength of Treize' subconscious at work.

Noin was the holy warrior Lucia, youngest sister of three (Niobe, Helena, Lucia--Une, Sally, Noin) and consort to the prince of the Sanq kingdom.She was the self-styled protector of the royal family, a knight in shining armour whose name was cheered in the streets.She fell at last in a duel with the demon Dekim.

She knows she's drawn to Zechs, but not until the very end (when she's scanning for Treize, and everything falls into place for her at last) does she realise why.At the same time she becomes aware of who Relena is, and sends the former princess to aid and lend power to her brother.

_Lady Une_

Treize essentially started the school for Une's sake.She worked with him in the Oz Special Committee until she was assigned to a task force sent to help GeneTech with their experiments.The atrocities being committed to the Newtype children depressed her almost to the point of suicide--when one of them died in the process of "research" and its tormented spirit remained behind to talk to her, she suffered a nervous breakdown that left her with multiple personalities.Une is a medium; her ability enables her to speak to the dead..

Previously her name was Niobe, and she was Cassandra's mother.She and Decitre were forced into hiding by Dekim, and she never forgave herself for outliving her daughter and gradchildren.She never explains quite when she becomes aware of everything; only that by the time Treize and the others need her, she's there and ready to surprise them all.(Niobe:a Greek myth about a woman who cried for her lost children, she was turned into a slab of stone but tears continued to fall from it.)

_Treize Khushrenada_

The shining star of Romafeller and the Oz Special Committee, Treize was assigned the task of running a school for "talented" children--Romafeller wanted to develop these talents for use, rather than experiment on them the way they did with the Newtypes.Perhaps they felt more discomfort at taking apart real born human children than artificially created ones; at any rate the students were to be protected--that is, until they decided Treize was a threat, that he was acting too independantly and encouraging the students to do the same.This prompted the decision to close down the school and bring the students into Romafeller's fold.

Treize himself is a warlock.He is ingrained with the energy that would becons idered "magic" in a more primitive time--he has access to a wealth of it, and total control over its manipulation.He seldom uses it in his role as a teacher; only when his daughter and his students are directly threatened does Treize haul out the big guns.

His chief weakness is Mariemaya.He may have loved her mother once, or it may have been an infatuation that was never given time to grow old--either way, Leia was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound shortly before the start of the St Gabriel project.Treize still harbours the suspicion that the death was not really self-inflicted, and that Romafeller engineered it to gain custudy of Mariemaya and control over him.

In his past life he was called Decitre (fiddling with the Latin for 'thirteen'); he was Niobe's husband and Cassandra's father.(With those two for parents, it's no wonder really that she turned out the way she did.) 

_Duke Dermail_

In charge of the Oz Special Committee and the chief public face of the Romafeller Foundation.Also Dorothy's grandfather and legal guardian.

_Tsuberov_

A necromancer who worked under the guise of science to create an army of flesh golems, soulless warriors that would fight in his place.By the time of his death he was quite mad, and convinced if the golems killed enough people he would become immortal himself.

_Dekim Barton_

The form taken by the demon Dekim in the current timeline.

**Symbolism**

Just a couple things that are important--there might be more that I haven't found yet, my stories have a way of growing like that on their own.

Flowers:

Violets=Faithfulness

Rosemary=Remembrance

Rue=Regret

Lilies=resurrection, peace

**Shakespeare References**

They were all over the place.Allthe chapter names are lines from Shakespeare, as is some of the stuff that comes out of Sylvia's mouth.I don't imagine anybody's all that interested in them specifically, if for some reason you do want to know where one comes from, just ask me.

**TheCredits!**

Gotta say thank you to some people here, forgive me if it sounds like I'm rehearsing for my Oscar acceptance later in life or something.*grin*But these folks deserve it, and I want to gush at them for a few minutes.

Thanks go to Dan Huron, for holding the school fic contest in the first place--it's quite possible I would have gone ahead with writing this anyway, but by no means guaranteed.So this is a lot his fault!Also to Lion, for giving consistently detailed feedback and more importantly drawing Sylvia's paintings!D, baby_pen and Saishi did some gorgeous illustrations as well (even though Saishi didn't realise that's what he was doing at the time!).Thanks to Hilary on general principle, for writing the ever-inspiring TSG and being so damn good that I feel compelled to work harder and harder in attempt to match her.And finally of course to everybody who ever left feedback, especially K-MD, Jay, Rhina, Raven, and the others whose messages occasionally consisted of more than threats on my life if I didn't write faster.*grin*(Not that I don't appreciate those, too!)

And no, no thanks go to the Academy at all!But my Muses should get a little credit.

**Author's Final Note**

There's something really gushy and involving about writing something this bloody /long/.This fic is over 200 pages at final count, and some 45,000 words.It's the longest thing I've ever written singlehandedly, so it's a bit of a milestone and I feel like I've accomplished something.On the other hand, I'm really sad to see it end.As you can see from the size of this appendix by itself, I got really, really involved.Even now I'm sure I've forgotten something, and can only remind myself that it can't possibly be that important, and to let the baby out of the nest already and move on to something else.I'd like to plan sidefics for this or something, but--well, the truth is it's pretty well-contained, all the cards have been played and there's not really anything else to say.The good guys won, true love conquered, and they all lived happily ever after.I hope you enjoyed the ride as much as I did.

"Our revels now are ended....

Yea, all that it inherit shall dissolve, 

And like this insubstantial pageant faded,

Leave not a rack behind.We are such stuff

as dreams are made on, and our little life

is rounded with a sleep."

-_The Tempest_, IV. i

-Ashura


End file.
